Natalie Jane Jacobs Monroe passed away peacefully at her home on Monday, November 2, 2026, after spending Sunday with her husband, Ted, and other family. She was 89 years old.

They met during the Asian flu epidemic. Natalie, a 19-year-old student nurse, was making her rounds at the Berea College student infirmary when she woke a young man to give him a sleeping pill. Theodore Frazer Monroe, Sr. (Ted) was already fast asleep and did not need one. So began a 70-year relationship, with 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.

Natalie was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, on July 27, 1937, to Burt O. Jacobs and Kathleen Marie Curry Jacobs. Her mother died 21 days after her birth, and for the first seven years of her life she was raised by her father, her grandparents, and two aunts, Elizabeth Eberle and Margaret Jane Brown. She then moved with her father and her stepmother, Loretta Bailey Jacobs, to Crab Orchard, Kentucky. All predeceased her.

She graduated from Crab Orchard High School in 1955 and from the Berea College School of Nursing in 1958. Natalie and Ted were married on December 21, 1959. The family lived in Lexington, Louisville, Cynthiana, and Danville, Kentucky; in Knoxville and Gatlinburg, Tennessee; and in Vero Beach, Florida. Natalie worked as a registered nurse at Harrison Memorial and Good Samaritan Hospitals, among others, and in 1985 she returned to school in Los Angeles to earn a specialization in what is now called Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Ted; her daughter, Emily Bates (spouse Ken), and her three sons, Theodore F. Monroe, Jr. (spouse Tonya), Joseph W. Monroe (significant other Ashley Dabb), and James Monroe (spouse Monica); her grandchildren, Alexis Sparks (Stephen), Dreama Bishop (significant other James Lynn), Peyton Powell, Emily Monroe (significant other Gabriel Easton), Brittni Hodge (Jacob), Taylor Siegrist (Dylan), Joseph “Joey” Monroe, and Jacob Monroe; and her great-grandchildren, Kennedy Bishop, Abygayle Bishop, Konrad Taylor Wilson, Kayden McIntosh, Eleanor Hodge, Averi Wilson, and Emori Siegrist.

Visitation will be from 11:30am-1:30pm on Thursday, November 5th at Lexington Avenue Baptist Church. The Funeral Service to follow at 1:30pm with Bro. Ervin Farmer and Rev. Basil Hall officiating. A private burial will be held at Bluegrass Memorial Gardens in Lexington, KY.

In addition to flowers memorial contributions can be made to Lexington Avenue Baptist Church and the Danville-Boyle County Humane Society.

A guestbook is available at www.wlpruitt.com