Thelma Natalie Powers

Thelma Natalie Powers Died of natural causes in Los Alamos Medical Center on March 3, 2017 at the age of 96. She was born January 14, 1921 with an adventurous spirit on a ranch near Sedan, New Mexico, Southeast of Clayton, New Mexico. She grew up during the “dust bowl days” the eldest of four siblings; James L. Dawson, Harry J. Hopson & Dr. J. Hal Hopson, are all of whom survive her. A sister, May Hopson, predeceased her as well as her parents, James H. Hopson, Thelma Hastings Hopson and her husband Marion E. Powers. Descendants include a son, Jim Powers and wife Christine, daughter Pam Heimuller and husband Henry, three grandchildren, Jaimie Powers, Skye Powers, Mikela Heimuller as well as three great-grandchildren, Alexis, Mathew and Hanna Larkin. Hanna Miller-Martinez was Natalie’s beloved caregiver as well as host of compassionate staff at Aspen Ridge Lodge in Los Alamos where she lived out her life.
Natalie graduated from the 11th grade then promptly moved to Amarillo, Texas to learn the secretarial trade where her first job was in a creamery there. Her restless spirit soon took her to Alaska where she worked as an Air Traffic Controller during WWII at Elmendorf Field in Anchorage Alaska where she shared many adventures and survived a dormitory fire. Just before the war ended, she returned to New Mexico where she “heard they were hiring” at a place called Zia Company in Los Alamos, New Mexico where she was hired as a secretary. She met and married Marion (Tubba) Powers in 1948. Tubba held a series of secretive assignments with Los Alamos National Laboratory before he retired with 41 years of service.
They later moved with their two young children to the Espanola Valley to purchase their own home. Natalie was very active as a volunteer, working with the Association of Retarded Citizens, (ARC) where she helped Father Corellas, a Catholic priest, start Santa Maria El Mirador, a group home for retarded citizens that still exists today in Alcalde, New Mexico and recognized for her efforts as Woman of the Year. She was a life-long volunteer and member of the Espanola Hospital Auxiliary and one of the original members of St. Stephens Episcopal Church.

Visitation is open on Friday, March 10, 2017 from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm at The Rivera Family Funeral Home and Crematory, 305 Salazar, Espanola, NM.

A service to honor Natalie’s long life will be held on Saturday, March 11, 2017, 11:00 am, at St. Stephens Episcopal Church located at 703 E. Bond Street, Espanola, NM with a reception to follow at the Parish Hall, 12pm to 1pm. Burial will follow at 1:30pm at Memorial Gardens, Santa Fe, NM.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Espanola, NM Valley Humane Society.