Natalie Rittenhouse

Natalie Stevenson Rittenhouse passed away in her home on January 22, 2014. Natalie was born November 7, 1926, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Vella J. and A.H. “Heinie” Stevenson.  The family moved to Las Vegas in 1931, where her father began work at the Boulder Club.  She attending school at the Fifth Street Grammar School, but missed the sixth grade after contracting severe Bulbar and Paralytic Polio.  As a consequence, she walked with the aid of leg braces from ages ten through seventeen. Natalie graduated from Las Vegas High School in 1944, and from Stanford University in 1948 with a major in psychology and pre-medicine.  She met Franklin “Pete” Rittenhouse while recuperating in Las Vegas from foot surgery, and they were married in September 1953.  Pete Rittenhouse served as U.S. Attorney for Nevada from 1955 to 1958, then in a Las Vegas law practice, and finally as Clark County Probate Commissioner.  He passed away in 1999. Natalie was President of Service League, which later became Junior League, in Las Vegas.  During her tenure, Service League acquired and developed Fantasy Park, a popular and innovative children’s park across from Cashman Field.  She was also President of Clark County Attorney’s Wives and President of the Assistance League of Las Vegas.  For nineteen years, she served on the Bylaws Committee of the National Assistance League. She was also a docent at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society. Natalie studied the Maya, and enjoyed traveling to archaeological sites in Mexico and Central America.  She also spent summer weekends at a cabin near Deer Creek in the Spring Mountains northwest of Las Vegas.  She was an avid opera fan.  She is survived by her daughter, Allison Rittenhouse Hayward of Cambria, California, her sister B.J. Stevenson of Las Vegas, two grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. Services will be private. Memorial contributions can be made to the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society.