Nattinger was a great provider of stability, time, love

By Safiya Merchant, Staff Writer : August 7, 2013 : Updated: August 7, 2013 7:41pm

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One of C.M. “Chuck” Nattinger's goals as a parent was teaching his kids the value of a work ethic.

His sons, Mark and Scott, remember how when they were kids, he always made them participate in family projects over the weekend. These projects ranged from landscaping to cleaning the garage. As Scott remembers it, just when they thought they were done, their father would find one more task for them to complete.

“And then Dad would find one more thing and it wasn't to be mean, it was so that we all spent time together,” said 45-year-old Scott Nattinger. “The most important thing to him was time. You know, everybody talks about what great providers their parents are and everything and they're always talking about money. My Dad was a great provider of stability, time, love.”

C.M. “Chuck” Nattinger died Aug. 1 from brain cancer at the Regent Care Center of San Antonio. He was 71.

He was born in December 1941 in Edinburg. He graduated from Edcouch-Elsa High School in 1960, where he ran track and played football and basketball. During his senior year, his football team went undefeated.

After graduating high school, he headed to Texas A&I University, now Texas A&M-Kingsville, where he was a member of ROTC. He graduated in 1964.Nattinger never agreed with the name change. It was always A&I to him, his son Scott said.

Nattinger served in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1967, and spent 13 months in Vietnam. He was a part of the signal corps. His son, Mark Nattinger, 48, said his father was a patriotic man who would often tear up when 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was played.

After his time in the military, Nattinger worked for Exxon for 22 years. Just last year, he retired from his position as CEO of RCI Technologies in San Antonio.

According to his wife, Sandy Thompson, Nattinger was very close to his family, including both his children from his first marriage and his stepchildren from his second marriage to Sandy.

“He was charming and witty and sweet ... very, very family man,” Thompson said. “That was his first love ... family.”

Nattinger was a member of the Rotary Club of Stone Oak as well as the San Antonio Manufacturers Association. Nattinger and Thompson were also longtime members of a Sunday school class at Alamo Heights United Methodist Church dedicated to those who had divorced and remarried.

For his son Scott, one of his father's most prominent personality traits was that he was a truly caring person.

“What Dad did very well is he made people around him feel special,” Scott Nattinger said. “He listened to what they said, and he made everybody around him feel like this guy is one of my best friends.”

smerchant@express-news.net

 

 

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