Jean Russell Natter

Physician, Educator, Life-long Student

Jean Anne Russell was born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1935 to Anne and Edward Russell. She was an excellent student and was later admitted to the University of Wisconsin, Madison Medical School. During that time, it was common for medical schools to have an informal maximum percent of female students that would be admitted. Jean was admitted with an entering class that had <10% female students.

During an anatomy lab class, she met her future husband, Carl Edward Natter, as they both worked on a lab assignment over a human cadaver. They were married shortly after starting their medical residency together in Long Beach, California. Jean specialized in general surgery and worked in a surgical clinic.

Jean stepped away from medicine to raise three active sons. As the boys grew and didn’t need as much direct attention, she went back to college to study horticulture. She soon became a teacher at a community college where she taught the full range of courses with her favorites being soil science and entomology. She loved the “critters”. Her sons were often scolded to not kill any spiders found in the house, “take them outside, they are beneficials”.

Jean was a scientist in all her endeavors. She took a very learned approach to researching horticultural topics and would form her knowledge base from reading scholarly papers and vetted textbook sources. Raising her family in southern California, she gradually turned her suburban house and yard into a test garden. In the backyard she grew lemon, lime, fig, apple, plum, persimmon, and banana trees among the many ornamental plants. There were also kiwi and grape vines and room for her sons’ modest vegetable gardens. The front yard soon transformed from a manicured lawn to a wild test garden. When Jean decided to plant tomatoes, that meant that she would purchase three different varieties with three replicates of each to plant in her test garden to study their relative hardiness and production. She kept consistent logs of min/max temperature, rainfall amounts, relative humidity, and observations on how the plants were performing. The two-car garage was split down the middle to become a one-car garage and a large greenhouse. The living room contained three 6-foot long, multi-tiered indoor grow carts for African Violets and various other plant starts. Plants were everywhere and there were always data to be taken and observations to be made.

Jean loved to share her knowledge in many ways. She had a weekly gardening article in the Long Beach Press Telegram for many years. She volunteered and took leadership positions in a variety of plant groups including her service as president of the National Fuchsia Society and an officer in the African Violet Society and Begonia groups.

After moving to Portland, Oregon, she truly valued the opportunity to teach with the Master Gardener program associated with the Oregon State University Extension service. She loved having the opportunity to discuss matters with researchers and educators. She taught “train to trainer” sessions and was often asked to teach in many counties around the state. She worked at the Washington County office and supported the Ask an Expert programs on the phones and over email. She created extensive guides, FAQs, and cheat sheets for the phone volunteers that became known as “Natter’s Notes”. She was proud to be able to knowledgeably answer questions on most topics, but her true interest remained in entomology and pollinators. There was always at least one Tupperware container in the refrigerator marked “Bugs” with deceased samples to be shared with an upcoming group of students. In recognition of her teaching and mentoring contributions, she received the Master Gardener of the Year award.

Jean loved teaching others the science behind horticulture. She was at her happiest standing in front of students, handing out researched source information, displaying her personally collected specimens, and sharing her love of “critters”.

Jean’s husband, Carl Edward Natter, passed away in 2019 and she is survived by her three sons, Russell, Robert, and Carl Jr.

Those interested in donating in Jean’s memory are encouraged to support their local Master Gardener program or to donate to the Jean Russell Natter Memorial Endowed Fund at Oregon State University Foundation in support of the Oregon Garden Ecology Lab directed by Dr. Gail Langellotto, Professor and past State Program Leader for the Oregon Master Gardener Program.

Donations can be made at the Oregon State University Foundation giving page at give.fororegonstate.org

In the “I want to give to” box, type in “Jean Russell Natter”. You can give to the Memorial Fund for gifts immediately available to Dr Langellotto’s work or to the Memorial Endowed Fund to increase the fund that will support Dr Langellotto’s lab in perpetuity. Thank you for considering a donation.