Natalia Orlow Marwin, 1942-2003

Natalia Orlow Marwin, 1942-2003

Natalia was born in 1942 in Ukraine. Her family’s home was destroyed in World War II. After several years in a Displaced Persons Camp located in Germany, she came to the U.S. with her family, arriving in 1950.  The Orlows lived in a red brick apartment on Harry Street in south Wichita. The neighborhood merchants rallied the community to collect clothing, food, and other necessities for the family. The Wichita City Parks Department employed Natalia’s father, an artist who specialized in landscapes and portraits. Her mother worked at a local creamery. The above photo of Natalia is dated 1959.

Natalia joined Mrs. Perry’s Fifth Grade at Chisholm School. The class, which included Bob Kinzy and Marilyn Tompkins, had read about Displaced Persons, generally called “DPs,” in My Weekly Reader, and welcomed Natalia enthusiastically.

One day on the playground, the class got a glimmer of Natalia’s past. A neighbor was walking a German Shepherd dog along the playground fence. The dog barked and barked at the noisy children playing on slides and swings. Natalia became hysterical, her eyes full of terror at the dog. Mrs. Perry and Principal Floyd Pope (Dianne Pope Kitch’s father) comforted her and took her inside the school, away from the dog. A local store owner, whom Natalia knew, walked a block from his store to Chisholm to bring her a beautiful doll. She calmed herself enough to accept it. Classmates clearly understood that Natalia had suffered terrifying experiences with dogs.

Natalia went on to Mead Intermediate and graduated from East High in 1960. Her brother Waldemar (’61) also attended East High, where he participated actively in vocal music with Bob Gates (’61)and other classmates.

In 1963 Natalia married Vernon Utley, an Airman First Class and auto repairman attached to the 866th Transportation Corps, stationed at McConnell AFB. She later married George Marwin and moved to New York State, where she passed away in fall 2003.  

Obituary, Buffalo News, October 1, 2003

Natalia “Natasha” Orlow Marwin of Sloan, New York, died September 29, 2003. She was the beloved wife of the late George Marwin, Sr.; dearest mother of Victor Marwin (Katherine Johnson) and George (Mary) Marwin; grandmother of Victor Michael, Julie Ann and Jordan Samuel, Timothy, Benjamin, and Ginny Marwin. Natalia’s funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and she was interred at St. Matthew’s Cemetery. Panachyda.

Editor’s Note: If you knew Natalia, please add your memories in the Comments section below.

Many thanks to Barbara Hammond for researching Natalia Orlow’s life and providing us with the information for this story. Marilyn Tompkins Bellert contributed recollections of Natalia’s arrival in the neighborhood and at Chisholm Elementary School. 

We had to look up Panachyda, the word at the end of Natalia’s obituary. It is an important part of memorial services for the dead in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and also for Jews and for other Catholics.