The family of Helen Marjorie Nattress is saddened to share of her passing on March 6, 2026.

Funeral Service will be held at Grace United Church, Lloydminster, AB on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM. If you are unable to attend in person, you may view the live streaming of the service posted on McCaw Funeral Service website under Marge's obituary.

Marge lived a life of joy, faith, and service for 98 years. Though we are grieved by the loss of her physical presence, we know her spirit is soaring. Should you wish to make a donation in lieu of flowers, it may be made to Spark Foundation (Interval Home) in Lloydminster or Grace United Church. 

OBITUARY

Marjorie Nattress, B.Sc., R.N.

Our cherished mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and steadfast friend to countless lives, passed peacefully into the arms of her Lord on March 6, 2026, at the age of 98 in Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan. Surrounded by family in the hospital for just one day-precisely as she had quietly hoped-she slipped away gently, safe in Jesus’ embrace.

For 61 years, she was the beloved wife of Dr. J. Ronald Nattress, who predeceased her in 2013. Their marriage was a rare and radiant partnership, built on deep love, mutual respect, and pure joy in each other’s company. Just two weeks before her passing, when a curious teenager at Tim Hortons asked her secret to a long life, Marjorie replied without a moment’s hesitation: “Marrying the right man.” That simple truth summed up so much of her happiness.

Born in Ponoka, Alberta, in 1927 to Frank Schuyler James and Ina Vida Martin, Marjorie grew up on a farm where her parents helped pioneer mechanized agriculture in the province. Her father, a steam engineer, brought a threshing machine across borders; her mother hosted Nellie McClung for a Pink Tea to champion women’s roles in public life. Prayer, purpose, and purposeful joy were woven into her childhood-and into the life she would create.

Marjorie earned her B.Sc. and Registered Nursing credentials from the University of Alberta, training at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. At a Christmas party there, she met a handsome young doctor-in-training, Ron Nattress. When he called to ask her out-and graciously offered to wait a full month for her next late leave-she sensed something extraordinary beginning. They married in May 1951 in her hometown of Ponoka.

Together they ran Cadomin’s small mining hospital as its sole doctor and nurse before settling in Lloydminster, where Ron and two university friends helped Dr. Cooke establish today’s Lloydminster Clinic. Marjorie became the vibrant center of their expanding family and community: known as the band mom piloting her purple Volkswagen stuffed with teenagers and instruments, the figure-skating chauffeur, the golfing partner, the Grace United choir member, the worship leader, the bridge player, the tireless volunteer.

She launched the Candy Stripers youth hospital program, led CGIT, and in 1979 co-founded the Lloydminster Interval Home-one of Alberta’s earliest shelters for women and children fleeing abuse. Their log home on the city’s edge rang with music, prayer, and the cheerful sound of her whistling while she stirred morning porridge. Over dinner, she and Ron would puzzle through the day’s medical mysteries (always with names protected), their talk a seamless weave of intellect, faith, and abiding affection.

In retirement, they served as medical missionaries with World Vision in remote Lesotho, Africa, staffing a fly-in hospital. Throughout her 98 years, Marjorie welcomed everyone with open-hearted grace, anchored by her beloved paraphrase of Philippians 4:8: “Whatsoever things are true, honest, pure, lovely, of good report… think on these things.” Eternal optimism defined her.

She outlived her seven siblings-Forest (Helen) James, Myrtle (Les) Russell, Allan (Ruth, Marie) James, Fern (Emrys) Reese, Earl (Connie) James, Gordon James, and Rodney (Pearl, Mernie) James. She is survived by: her six children, John (Mari) Nattress, Susan (the late Doug) Bexson, Janet Nattress, Joan (Peter) Crockatt, Jim Nattress, and Eleanor Knutson; 15 grandchildren-Nicki, Jeff (Shannon), Jordan (Jamie), Colin, Corinne (Brian), Britany, Tahirih (Dayan), Natania, William (Joy), Scott (Chantal), Scarlett, Erica (Steven), Jamie (Dyllan), Rhiannon (Casey), and Hilary (Mike); and her growing pride of great-grandchildren: Boden, Zephren, Arlen, Georgia, Hallie, Emmett, Alena, Maxwell, Louis, Blackwood, Rory, Elliot, Ryder, Reed, Chase, Sage, Barrett, and Brinley-plus many cherished James nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, and dear niece Laurel Ozarko and friends Mathew Worthy and the late Keith Bartlett.

We will miss her encouraging laugh, her unwavering faith, and her familiar presence at Tim Hortons, radiating the warmth of wonderful friends. Yet we hold fast to the certain hope that she is home-whole, joyful, and forever in the place she longed for all her days.

Rest well, Mom. We love you to the moon and back as you loved us.