Natalie (Haas) Pogson Obituary
Born in Concord, New Hampshire, on April 17, 1924, Natalie spent her childhood and youth in Manchester, NH and Auburn, Maine, moving with her parents, Viola and Roger Saltmarsh, when Roger was transferred by his employer, Hood Milk.
Natalie went to Central High in Manchester for two years before moving to Auburn where she graduated from Edward Little High School in 1942. She enrolled in Farmington Normal School (later Farmington Teachers College and most recently UMaine Farmington) where she went for two years before transferring to Lesley College to complete her degree in Early Childhood Education. In 1945 she was one of three students to receive the first bachelor’s degrees from Lesley.
Her first teaching job was in a third-grade in Weston, Massachusetts. Natalie married William Haas in the spring of 1945 just prior to his being shipped out for the Navy in WWII. Natalie next took a first-grade teaching position in Melrose, which she held until starting a family. Son Bruce came along in October of 1950, and daughter Susan in June of 1953.
In the fall of 1959 she took a substitute teaching job in her daughter’s first-grade class in the Horace Mann School. Prior to the start of the next school year, she was asked to take a full-time position as the kindergarten teacher for the Horace Mann, where she stayed for twenty-four years. She became a well-respected educator by her colleagues and much-loved by her students and their parents. Her philosophy was that every child was a unique person, and she taught each with that in mind.
Natalie gave back to Lesley students and other kindergarten teachers for many years by taking a leading role in the renowned annual Lesley College Kindergarten Conference. She was also involved with the Lesley Alumni Association and was President of the Melrose Education Association.
In between school years summers were spent at Newfound Lake with Bruce and Sue. Music was always an important part of her life. In her classes she would sing instructions to her children, with her well-known “Stop, Look, Listen” sung command still remembered to this day by hundreds of them. She sang in the choir at the First Baptist Church in Melrose for many years.
Natalie married a second time to Arthur Pogson, with whom she spent many happy years. Art passed away suddenly, and after several years, friends introduced her to Fred Woodrow, a New Zealander, who became her companion.
She was ever supportive of Susan and Bruce, helping them out when they had families of their own. “Mimi” or “Gram,” as she was known to her grandchildren made every effort to attend birthday parties, sports, and special events for Bruce and Sue and her grandchildren.
Mimi will be missed. Her smile, her eagerness to be with people, her love of animals, and her adopted motto of “Live, Laugh, Love” will be fondly remembered by family and friends.
She is survived by her son, Bruce, and his wife, Lin; her daughter Susan Handy and her husband, Harry; grandchildren Jillian Corey; Allison Ranz and her husband, Austin; Kristin Haas and her fiancé, David Watsula; Harry Handy III and his fiancé, Rebecca; and great grandson, Willis Ranz.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday April 13, 2023 at 10:00am in the Peabody Funeral Homes and Crematorium, 15 Birch St., Derry. Friends may call prior to the service from 9 – 10 am. Burial will follow in the Alexander Cemetery, Bow, NH.