Today there is a memorial service for Natalie Jude Johnson who passed away on March 26th at the age of 20. Natalie was MMP’s first high school intern who volunteered with us while at the Running Start Program with Green River College and then while at the University of New Mexico. She was smart, passionate, kind and beautiful and we are so deeply sorry for her loss. At the beginning of the pandemic, Natalie supported multiple events when MMP groups were just learning how to produce online events. Β She showed us how capable high school volunteers could be and we soon had other young adult volunteers who joined Natalie in our intern program. She led the MMP high school intern group in many ways – including when they did an art competition as part of an online event about climate change.
The Meaningful Movies Project has purchased a tree to be planted in her honor. Below is her obituary.
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Natalie Jude Johnson died on March 26, 2023, at the age of 20. Natalie was born in Renton, Washington on December 4, 2002. She went to Camelot Elementary, Kilo Middle School, and Thomas Jefferson High School in Federal Way. She did Running Start through Green River College, and went on to study film at the University of New Mexico. She had recently moved to Portland, Oregon and planned to finish her degree there.
She did many things in her too-short life. At school she tried gymnastics, track, wrestling, yearbook, choir, and more. At university, she wrote and photographed for the student paper and was a resident advisor, and she had a variety of jobs from restaurant work to website design to childcare. She was so brave and tried so many new things.
She could play the piano by ear and it was beautiful. She made art in the form of photography, film, music, drawing and writing, some of which can be found at eilatancreations.com. She also made art out of cookies, pancakes, napkins, clay, rocks and birthday cards.
There were so many things Natalie had left to do. She wanted to write and direct films. She had just enrolled in drawing, ceramics and painting classes, and she was planning a trip to Spain this year for a film project. She wanted to travel to Italy, and to see puffins in Maine.
She loved movies and books, rodents, tiny things, strange food combinations, and old cameras.
Grieving her loss are her sisters Margalo, Ashlynn and Lily, her brother Ethan, her parents and step-parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, and an extended family of cousins, aunts, uncles and more, all of whom loved her so much. She also had many wonderful friends throughout her life who will remember and miss her.
To honor Natalie, her family requests that you are kind and gentle, that you support local journalism, and that you enjoy a good film.
2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThank you for posting this obit, Anne. I’m truly sorry to hear this.
Such a great loss for all of us at MMP. We will continue to hold Natalie in our hearts as we continue the work of having more conversations to promote peace and justice in our world.