Natalie Lyon

MISSOULA – In this life, the light has gone out, but Natalie's vision continues in the many black-and-white photo images she created with her camera and her darkroom,

The light has gone out, but Natalie's passion remains in the many native plants she nurtured and gave to friends all over the Missoula Valley.

The light has gone out, but our memories of this beautiful woman will last forever.

Natalie Sue Allen Lyon was born April 20, 1931, in Bryn Athyn, Pa.

She attended the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn and then moved across the country to attend Colorado A&M College where she majored in horticulture.

Following graduation, she worked for the Beet Sugar Experiment Station in Fort Collins for a number of years. It was in Fort Collins that she was introduced to wildlife biologist L. Jack Lyon, then working for the Colorado Game Department.

According to Jack, it was love at first sight, and after a courtship lasting less than a year, was culminated with a grand ceremony in the cathedral in Bryn Athyn.

Their early married years were spent in a lonely farmhouse near Sedgewick, Colo. There, daughter Kendal was born and Jack completed the field work for a graduate program at the University of Michigan. Following a year in Ann Arbor, the family moved to Fort Collins where Jack continued research for the Game Department. A second daughter, Kerry, was born, and four hours after the birth, Jack asked Natalie if she would move to Missoula.

There the Intermountain Research Station, U.S. Forest Service hired Jack as a research project leader and for over 50 years, Missoula and the Forest Service have rewarded the family with wonderful experiences and lasting friendships.

Natalie took up photography in the 1960s, and was permanently hooked when her photograph of a lone bison in Yellowstone Park was judged best of show in a contest conducted by the Missoulian. Later photographs were best of show and four times best black and white at Electrum (Helena), and recognition at the Holter Museum (Helena) the Hockaday Center (Kalispell), and Galeria Mesa in Arizona. Her photograph "Cows and Cowboys" was selected for the permanent collection of the Montana Historical Society. Over the years she became a fixture in the University Christmas Art Fairs and the Renaissance Art Fairs downtown. She was locally famous for her "cowendars" (calendars featuring cows) and sensitive black and white photographs of Montana and Alaska. She served as the official photographer of the Missoula Farmers Market for about 25 years, and had just recently completed a summary collection of market photographs covering the 40 year life of the market.

Despite her success as a photographer, Natalie's first love is gardening, and that love will continue. She produced several exceptional flower and landscape displays, and for many years, brought flowers from her South Hills garden to be sold at the Farmers Market. Later, she developed a showcase terrace garden on a rocky slope just below the conservation lands on Mount Jumbo. She often admitted that this garden served a primary purpose of feeding the deer, but it also served as an experimental environment for testing new plants and new techniques.

Natalie is survived by Jack in Missoula; two daughters, Kendal in Hawaii and Kerry in Alaska and three grandchildren (Alaska, Seattle and Ecuador).

She will be sorely missed by her brother Edward and his wife and family in Alaska, Arizona and Washington.

Natalie requested there be no memorial ceremony but suggested instead, "Plant a tree or a petunia or another plant. Drink a glass of wine and remember me as a happy gardener, a fun photographer and a loving friend."

Memorials may be made to Five Valleys Land Trust or any charity of the donor's choice.

Read Natalie Lyon's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.