Natalie Hoyt

Died in Concord, NH, Wednesday July 10, 2002. She was born in Boston, Mass., the daughter of the late Edward Harrison Hoyt, FAIA, and Eleanor (Barrett) Hoyt. She graduated from the May School in Boston and Smith College. Later she studied construction engineering at MIT. Before WWII, she worked as an archaeologist in Europe photographing Romanesque architecture for the A. Kingsley Porter Collection, now at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. In 1942, she was commissioned an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve as a member of the First Class of WAVES, the first group of Women Naval Officers. She was attached to the US Navy Photographic Intelligence Center in Anacostia and at Pearl Harbor for four years of active duty, attaining the rank of Commander, and remained in the Naval Reserve until her retirement. She was Curator of Architecture and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She became a partner in a construction firm in New York City, building the Olivetti Showroom on Fifth Avenue and three exhibition houses in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art. Later she operated her own general contracting firm in the Boston area. She completely remodeled her 1799 house in Hopkinton Village where she has lived for many years. She was an avid skier from age three, skied over the headwall at Tuckerman's Ravine twice and often skied the Alps. She took up golf at age 75. She is survived by her nieces, Nancy S. Hoyt of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Kristina J. Hillmer of Carlsbad, New Mexico; a nephew, Peter H. Hoyt of Phoenix, Oregon and his three children. There are no calling hours. Graveside Services will be held Monday (7/15) at 1:00 P.M. at Linwood Cemetery, Weston, Mass. Friends are invited to a Celebration of her Life which will be held Tuesday July 16, 2002, from 5 P.M. to 7 P.M. at the home of Bob and Binnie Wells, 1109 Hatfield Road, Hopkinton, NH. The Waters Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.