Nathalie Dale

Nathalie Dale was born to Ariadna (Savëlov) and Vasily Bezsmertny in Athens, Greece on January 7th, 1927. Her family was in Greece as refugees from Russia after the Communist revolution. Even though they were quite poor, Nathalie attended a French immersion school and began studying the violin. She learned French because she was the descendant of a Russian aristocrat and it was de rigueur for members of that class to speak French. During World War II there was severe famine in Athens due to the Nazis appropriating all foodstuffs for the German war effort. Late in the war the family also began to fear that the intra-factional fighting between the various partisan groups fighting the Nazis might lead to a hard-left government after the war, which might wish to deport them back to the Soviet Union. To escape the famine and the threat of deportation, they followed the Allied Forces as they advanced into Austria. After a harrowing month-long ordeal traveling over 1,000 miles, they managed to obtain asylum as refugees in the Alpine west Austrian town of Lienz.

In Lienz the family managed to get by with refugee aid and providing services to some of the British occupation forces controlling the area. While in Lienz, Nathalie continued to study violin and learned German. One day she attended a dance open to the occupying British soldiers. One of the soldiers, John Dale, did not speak German and was delighted to find a beautiful young woman who could speak French! It so happens that John’s mother was French and that he had spent some of his childhood with his French grandparents in Calais, so he was fluent in the language. He immediately was smitten with Nathalie and courted her for all it was worth.

At the end of his army hitch, John went back to England and brought Nathalie with him to get married. They were married in Sheffield in 1948. John had an offer in hand to attend Oxford University but could not afford to go to school while married. He had no luck in obtaining enough work during the post-war economic slump to support Nathalie and himself. Nathalie mentioned that she had relatives in the Detroit area and that perhaps they might be able to help get them to the United States. This is indeed what happened. Nathalie’s Aunt Vera had married Hilarion Bibicoff, and he generously sponsored John and Nathalie in immigrating to the United States. They arrived in late April of 1949. Using the Bibicoff family farm located between Dexter and Chelsea as a base, John found employment at a bank and Nathalie began her studies at the University of Michigan. She majored in violin performance, was concertmaster of the university orchestra and ended up with a master’s degree in only three and a half years. She went on to prominence locally playing, often as concertmaster, with the Plymouth (now Michigan) and Ann Arbor symphonies. She also enjoyed playing chamber music with friends throughout her life. She gave violin lessons privately well into her late 80s. She particularly liked to teach children and only stopped teaching when she turned 90. She was an active member of Mu Phi music sorority. Throughout her life she very much appreciated being able to attend various cultural events available in Ann Arbor. She and John went to very many concerts and performances throughout the years.

Nathalie’s first child, Peter, was born two and a half months after her arrival in the United States. Her other two children, Liza (Elizabeth) and Lenny (John Leonid) were born in 1954 and 1958. She was a devoted and kind parent. Later she doted on her grand and great grandchildren.

In 1955 Nathalie and John set up house in a small bungalow on Steere Place, near Pattengill School, where they lived until 1969, when they moved to a larger house on Wagner Road in Scio Township. Her parents lived with them from 1954 until her father died in 1985. She always appreciated the quiet and natural beauty of the location.

From the beginning, Nathalie was very involved in the budding Russian community in Ann Arbor, particularly supporting the establishment of a Russian Orthodox church. She was very devout and was part of the effort to successfully establish St Vladimir’s Russian Orthodox Church. She and John continued being active in it during the ensuing years. She particularly enjoyed the elements of Russian culture stemming from the church and participating in the choir.

She was also an active member of the American Anthroposophical Society, studying the spiritual teachings of Rudolf Steiner and supporting the local Waldorf schools. She was an avid reader and read (and spoke) five languages: Russian, Greek, French, English and German!

Nathalie kept ties with her extended Russian family and friends around the world. She often visited with or hosted them at her house throughout her life. Some of her guests stayed for relatively long periods of time.

Nathalie will be remembered for her calm and kind manner. She was an intelligent, talented, sweet, pleasant and loving person. She will be missed.