Our beautiful, kind, intelligent, enthusiastic, and fun-loving Natalie Bowditch Knauth MacLachlan ended her courageous fungal brain infection struggle on February 20. We are incredibly sad to be without her, but glad her almost two-year ordeal is over. Born Natalie Bowditch Knauth on April 17, 1944 in San Francisco. She attended Katherine Delmar Burke High School, during which she and her parents Basil & Rose Knauth and sister Beryl moved to Belvedere in Marin County. She was a 1962 Marin debutant and attended University of California, Berkeley, graduating with BA in English Literature. She married Douglas Lee (“Mac”) MacLachlan July 23, 1966 in Belvedere and lived in Berkeley while Mac was in graduate school. They moved to the Seattle area in 1970, with Mac joining faculty of the UW (now Foster) Business School. A wonderfully compatible and loving couple, they almost reached their 50th anniversary.

Proud of her direct descent from Nathaniel Bowditch, author of the celebrated Practical American Navigator, she enjoyed sailing, especially on beloved Bimi, the wooden gaff-ketch designed by her father, launched in SF in 1955, brought to Kenmore in 1984 and docked at home. Known to friends and family as a gourmet cook and outstanding party host, Natalie had enormous curiosity about the world, which expressed itself in love of travel and reading. With husband Mac, she lived several different years abroad (France, Belgium, and Turkey) during his sabbatical years, and enjoyed many other foreign trips. A voracious reader of novels and history, she also loved attending performances of Seattle Symphony, Seattle Rep and other play series, and UW Husky football games, often reached by sailboat.

Natalie is survived by her husband Mac; daughter Heather Goss of Needham, MA, wife of David Goss; son Trevor MacLachlan of West Seattle, husband of Karisa; granddaughters Kaela & Brenna Goss, Kiera & Raelan MacLachlan; and sister Beryl Knauth of Fall City. We greatly miss her lovely smile, cheerful laughter, and energetic spirit.

A private celebration of life event is scheduled for April 17 and members of the immediate family will participate in a summer ashes scattering ceremony off Bimi up in Desolation Sound, Natalie’s favorite cruising destination. Because of her abiding concern for bird and animal habitat, it is appropriate to honor Natalie’s memory with contributions to the Nature Conservancy of Washington.