Richard Natzke

On February 10, 2026, Richard Natzke died peacefully in Kihei, Hawaii, surrounded by his family. Born December 30, 1925, in Santa Monica, California, Richard was the oldest of three children of Elmer and Fannye (Marsh) Natzke who, four years after his birth, moved closer to relatives in Porterville, California. The family lived for a time in Fresno but eventually returned to a small Porterville farm with orange and walnut orchards before Richard graduated in 1943 from Porterville High School.

Richard's academic record earned him a place in a Navy training program, and so, he began his medical education at Porterville College. He later attended Occidental College, Tulane University, and UC San Francisco before graduating from UC Berkeley in 1948. As a Captain in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Richard served overseas as a medical officer in Japan. There he met his future wife, Nancilee “Nan” Henrichsen, an administrative secretary on a naval base. They married in 1953.

After returning home, Richard established his medical practice in Porterville, California. Together with Nan, he raised three children, Charlie, Paul, and Laura, in a home surrounded by orange groves on the outskirts of town. His decision to return was guided by a belief that he was best suited to be a small-town doctor, a role he embraced fully. In addition to his private practice, he served as Chief of Staff at Sierra View District Hospital (now Sierra View Medical Center). He was also an active member of the First Congregational Church, led by Pastor Walter Ralph, who, along with his wife Chris, became close friends to Richard and his second wife, Ingrid Samuel Perez.

Richard’s community involvement extended to the arts, where he appeared in numerous productions at Porterville College and the Barn Theater. In 1990, he and Ingrid moved to Oregon, living first in Hammond and later in Portland. He continued practicing medicine in nearby Astoria, serving as Chief of Staff at Columbia Memorial Hospital and as Medical Director at Lower Columbia Hospice. In 2010, Richard and Ingrid relocated to the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Travel and adventure were central to Richard’s life. His deployment overseas marked the first of many international journeys that included Europe, Mexico, Africa, and Ecuador, where he climbed Cotopaxi (19,347 feet) while pursuing certification in high-altitude medicine. In the mid-1980s, he and Ingrid joined a month-long trek to Annapurna, Nepal, where he served as the group’s physician, an experience he often called the trip of his lifetime.

Richard’s love for mountains and the outdoors began early with summers spent at Camp Nelson in the Sierra Nevada range. Then summer before he left for college, he worked on a U.S. Forest Service fire-suppression team stationed at the Springville Ranger Station in Sequoia National Forest. When he returned to Porterville in 1953, he began backpacking extensively with friends and later with his sons and their families. He completed his final backpacking trip in 1997 at age 72.

Richard was rarely without a dog companion or a book. He especially enjoyed reading about history, music, and mountaineering, interests that stayed with him throughout his life. As a physician, he was part of an early generation to counsel patients with hypertension and heart disease to adopt low-fat, vegetable-rich diets. His own preferences, however, told a different story. Green vegetables were famously absent from his plate, and he favored a vodka Gibson with two onions over a martini with olives simply because olives are green. Late in life, he spoke fondly of the tostadas at Carmen’s Mexican Kitchen in Porterville, and his refrigerator was never complete without See’s Candy, Double-Stuffed Oreos, and Pepsi.

His twinkling, mischievous eyes will be deeply missed. We hold his memory as a blessing.

In addition to his wife Ingrid, Richard is survived by his sister Mary Dorscheimer; his son Charlie and daughter-in-law Meryl; his son Paul and daughter-in-law Anne; and his daughter Laura. Services will be private; gifts can be made to the Sierra Club or Hospice Maui.