Natalie Louise (Schleh) Joscher

Natalie Louise Joscher, age 92, of Prior Lake, MN, passed away peacefully on July 2, 2025, at her home.

A Memorial Service will be held for Natalie at 1:00 PM with a Time of Gathering from Noon - 1:00 PM on Wednesday, July 9, 2025 at Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation, 4565 Pleasant St SE, Prior Lake, MN. Natalie will be laid to rest at Spring Lake Cemetery in Prior Lake.

Memorials are preferred and will be donated in honor of Natalie.

Natalie Louise was born on February 26, 1933 to Ludwig and Katherine (Antons) Schleh in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up on a farm in Barrington with her sister, Ellen Marie, with a brother, Peter, joining the family many years later. After graduating high school, she attended Chicago’s St. Lukes Hospital School of Nursing (now Rush University Medical Center), becoming a registered nurse.

After meeting on a blind date, Natalie was united in marriage with Alfred Joscher on July 14, 1956. They began their life together and were blessed with four children, Cheryl, Mark, Allen, and Kurt.

Summers were spent taking the kids on adventurous camping trips, winters were spent taking them to ski hills throughout the Midwest. A trip to a Colorado ski resort became an annual tradition starting in 1972, interrupted only by the Covid shutdowns. Everyone had an open invitation to join the Joscher ski trip-- all were fed and all were welcomed. Many learned to ski. Natalie herself skied until she was 82 years old.

Travel was a big part of Natalie's life. Natalie and Alfred visited so many other countries that an annotated map in their basement was a polka-dotted pattern marking their travels. Whenever she met someone with an accent, Natalie would eagerly ask about their country of origin and often exclaim with glee “I’ve been there!”, followed by a spirited conversation about the wonderful parts of that person’s birthplace. Natalie and husband Alfred’s travels took them to the arctic circle, China, Vietnam, on Africa safaris, to the Galapagos Islands, and all over Europe.

Creating and decorating miniature dollhouses was a cherished hobby of Natalie’s. She was a whiz at deciphering obscure instructions, relishing the challenge of wiring a miniature electrified chandelier. Every season saw a different dollhouse displayed in her entrance hallway—from Halloween, to Christmas, to an icehouse for winter, even a reproduction of an iconic purple house on the shores of Prior Lake. She was a member of the Minnesota Miniature Society.

Once her mother passed, Natalie and Alfred moved to Minnesota in 2000 to join their three sons already living in the area. Almost immediately Natalie’s kitchen became known as the place to drop by on Saturday and Sunday mornings for coffee and breakfast—the marque menu item being crepes (which she called “German Pancakes”) filled with fresh fruit and a cream cheese spread (aka “white stuff”). The kitchen was always hopping and everyone was always welcome.

Neither sleet nor snow could keep Natalie away from her Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning water aerobics class at the Dakotah fitness center. A faithful attendee since she arrived in Prior Lake twenty five years ago, her group of fellow senior citizens soon became her cherished inner circle. Nicknamed the “Dancing Dolphins”, this group of ladies met after the pool for coffee and spirited discussion, and monthly luncheons. Her saddest moment during the final weeks of her illness was being unable to join these ladies in the pool.

Natalie volunteered at the Three Rivers Park district’s Richardson Nature Center. Her job was “feeding the critters”, which usually meant snakes, toads and other slimy, slithering creatures. She had no fear. One time, during a feeding, a snake bit her wrist just above the leather glove. She calmly walked to the park employee with the snake dangling from her arm, its fangs still clamped into her flesh.

Natalie is survived by her loving husband, Alfred; children, Cheryl (Hans-Juergen), Mark, Allen (Shelley), and Kurt (Amy); grandson, Paul (Janina); sister, Ellen Marie; brother, Peter; and other relatives and friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Ludwig and Katherine.