Natalie Jarmon

Natalie (Soifer) Jarmon March 14, 1935-October 31, 2024. Natalie passed peacefully in her sleep in the comfort of her home in Amherst, MA. She leaves behind her 3 daughters, Amita (aka Loren), Karen (Todd Ehrlich), and Jessica; grandchildren Miriam and Rebekah Ehrlich; and her brother, Laudy (Lawrence) Soifer. She was predeceased by her sister, Dr. Adelyn Soifer. Born in Brooklyn, NY, to Rhea and Albert Soifer, her youth was spent moving from army base to army base in the South where she witnessed the horrific injustice of Jim Crow and had many direct experiences of anti-semitism. These were formative experiences that shaped her values and beliefs. Natalie graduated from City College in 1956, where she was active in the civil rights movement. She married Harold Jarmon the same year and they moved to Lawrence, KS. There, she loved teaching the Western Civilization courses at the University and was beloved by her students. They moved to Amherst in 1964. She was a member of Town Meeting for many years, a founder of the Jewish Community of Amherst’s Hebrew School and of Camp CDC in Granby. She taught ESL to adults and was an anti-war activist in the Vietnam era. She received an MA in Political Science in 1972 from the University of Kansas and an MS in Public Health in 1981 from UMass. She became an independent health planning consultant specializing in long term care planning, and she was an advocate for single payer health care. Despite living with chronic pain throughout her adult life, having endured multiple orthopedic surgeries beginning in her early 50s, her vibrance and indomitable spirit shone through. She often said: “if not for my sense of humor, I would have died long ago.” She found joy in small pleasures. She was an avid gardener, concert-goer and chorale singer. She was a talented artist, gourmet cook and completed the Sunday NYT crossword every week. She was a devoted, loving and creative mother and grandmother. She was also a surrogate mother to many tenants who lived in her home over the past 40 years. She was passionate about many social justice issues, and was generous both with her time and her charitable giving. She epitomized both resilience and beneficence. She is already deeply missed by many.

Donations in her honor can be made to:

Center for Victims of Torture:
https://www.cvt.org/

Jewish Foundation for the Righteous:
https://jfr.org/

Massachusetts Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals:
https://www.mspca.org/