Obituary of Natalie Ann Chambers

none Natalie was born in San Diego, California on September fifth 1974. She moved to Olalla, WA where she attended Olalla Elementary, John Sedgewick Junior High and graduated from South Kitsap High School in 1993. She attended beautician school in Bremerton, then commuted to Seattle and completed the Gene Juarez Styling Course. She then worked as a hair stylist for Gene Juarez for about 2 years. While working at Gene Juarez she met Shep Thorp, a veterinarian client who got her interested in working with animals. She had always loved animals and raised sheep and pigs in the 4H program in her early teens. She then moved up the scale to horses where she purchased a half Arab gelding and competed in the 4H Equestrian area at local shows and the Kitsap County Fair. She loved it and had a ball. Her outgoing personality showed through in the number of long term friends she made while in the local 4H club, The Hobby Horses. After meeting Shep and having had enough dealing with people full time, she attended the Pierce College Veterinary Technician program in Puyallup and found her niche in life. She loved it all, regardless of the effort or sometimes less than appealing aspects of working with animals both well and injured. Upon graduation she went to work for Shep as a Veterinary Tech at the Animal Emergency Clinic in Tacoma. Again she loved what she did but the pace and hours of working in a 24/7 emergency clinic started to get to her. She moved to a private clinic for a short time but after the emergency clinic, found it repetitive and boring. She went back to the Animal Emergency Clinic and developed a new appreciation for the pace and hours because of the satisfaction of the results of their work. Natalie was a very caring technician and got along great with the animals. She especially did well with aggressive dogs and “fear biters”. She had a real knack for gaining their trust and being able to calm and handle them. She continued to work there until her death. While working for Gene Juarez she also met Erik. They started dating and soon realized this was more serious than either one of them initially realized. On a ski trip when Natalie injured her knee and was being helped off the mountain, Erik skied down next to the rescue toboggan and by the time they got to the bottom of the mountain they found themselves in love. After being together for many years, they married on March tenth, 2004. She is survived by her husband of 11 months Erik Chambers of Lacey; her parents, Karen & Bruce Smith, of Olalla; maternal grandparents Helen and Bert Seely, of Whittemore, Iowa; and her brother, Brian Smith, of Lacey; and Brian’s kids, Seth, Kelci and Aspen. Others that will miss Natalie are her mother-in-law, Patricia; father-in-law, George and his wife Rita, three uncles, a brother-in-law and his wife and their families including one nephew, two nieces and six cousins. Life long friends, Carolyn and Marvin Irish and their children and grand children are grieving also. Natalie made friends easily and was loved by many including many of her co-workers, high school, and 4H friends. Natalie enjoyed many outdoor activities including skiing, roller blading, bicycling, hiking, and gardening. The thing that she enjoyed most was being with her animals, especially the dogs. Seldom did anyone see Natalie without one or more of her dogs. The first was Obie. He was a large Black Lab cross that Natalie rescued from the pound. He acted as though he knew she saved his life. They were inseparable for many years. While Obie and she were a team, she convinced some of her friends at work to help her save a litter of Labrador pups that had a very limited future. There were friends of hers with pups in at least three counties until they could be weaned. That was after Natalie’s Mom found her bottle feeding ten or so of the pups in the family bathroom. Moms sometimes take a dim view of sharing their bathroom with that many pups, so Natalie recruited help. When she didn’t get one of the Lab pups, her friends “acquired” Phoebe and the rest, as they say, is history. They were constant companions, best of friends and one of them tried to outdo the other with zany antics. No one is sure who won that contest if anyone did. Nat and Phoebe used to go herding. Ducks, sheep, they didn’t care. Then they discovered “FLY BALL”. Now, Phoebe found her niche. She can catch a ball better than any major league baseball player and she loved to run. That is what "fly ball" is all about and the excitement level was equally high on both end of the leash. Inseparable is the only term that fits. As Natalie loved the color orange, the family is requesting everyone bring an orange flower for the Memorial table. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Animal Emergency Clinic of Tacoma. Contact Shep Thorpe for details at (235) 474- 0791.