Ronald Leroy Van Natta, 85

Ronald Leroy Van Natta passed away on June 14, 2024, at the age of 85. He was born to Leonard and Estelle Van Natta in Cuba City, Wisconsin, on Feb. 10, 1939. Growing up with two younger sisters in nearby Platteville, he gained mechanical skills assisting his dad and uncles with their local plumbing company’s projects. Athletic from a young age (football, baseball), and eventually golf became his enduring pastime. In 1960 he earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering at what is now the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. While there he met Nancy Elizabeth Valdovinos, whom he married later that year. Soon afterward he was hired by an aerospace company headquartered in Renton, Washington. On arrival, he was assigned to a group developing, in collaboration with NASA, the Saturn 5 launch vehicle critical to Apollo space flights.

Appreciative of that formative experience, yet wanting to focus on more conventional civil engineering, Ron next took a job with Wisconsin’s Highway Department. When later presented with an opportunity to return to the Pacific Northwest, he accepted an engineering job with the U.S. Forest Service in Olympia, Washington. Progressing up the USDA’s managerial ranks, new posts took him and his family sequentially to Oregon, New Mexico, and ultimately to Kalispell where he worked until retirement as Flathead National Forest’s lead engineer and then spent 30 subsequent years. Ron’s wife Nancy worked in Kalispell for years as a revered kindergarten teacher, and each of their three sons went on to professional careers.

Ron loved Kalispell. In retirement, he became a chef, played a central role in establishing Flathead Valley’s 911 emergency communication system (operative since 1990), served on the Flathead County Safety Council and then Kalispell City Council (1998-2001), and volunteered impactfully in multiple other local endeavors. A man of faith and longstanding member of Kalispell’s Northridge Lutheran Church, for years he attended to its structure and grounds, plus served for years as parish treasurer. Ron, an abiding fan of John Wayne and Johnny Cash, was himself valued by many for his integrity, authenticity, sensibleness, handiness, intelligence, and wise counsel. He will be dearly missed by his extended family and friends. 

He is survived by his spouse Nancy, his three sons and their wives, 11 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. 

A memorial service will be held sometime this fall at Northridge Lutheran Church.