Nathaniel Bond

NORTH ANDOVER - Nathaniel Bond, 89, of North Andover passed away peacefully in Lawrence General Hospital on June 18, 2023.

Nat was born in Boston on March 31, 1934, to Charles Lawrence Bond and Barbara (Dailey) Bond and grew up at 31 South Main Street in Topsfield. He graduated in 1952 from Wilbraham Academy, in 1956 from Harvard College with an A.B. in history, and in 1972 from Boston University School of Management with an M.B.A. in hospital administration.

After college, while working as business manager at his aunt’s theater, the Peterborough Playhouse in Peterborough, NH, Nat met and fell in love with a beautiful young actress from York, PA named Beth Ann Bentz. They married just six months later, so that she could accompany him to Germany where he was stationed as a medical corpsman in the 3rd Armored Division of the U.S. Army.

Upon their return to the states, the couple lived in Salem, MA while Nat worked at Sylvania Lighting Products as a technician and a production supervisor in the manufacture of electroluminescent lamps.  He was later promoted to personnel assistant, a role that started a life-long career in human resources.  In 1959 the couple moved to Georgetown, MA where they raised their three children. While living in Georgetown, Nat worked as an employment manager for B.F. Goodrich Footwear Company in Watertown and as a personnel supervisor for Sylvania Electronic Systems in Waltham before becoming the first personnel director at Beverly Hospital in 1967. Nat subsequently served as director of administrative services and as Beverly Hospital’s acting administrator.  In 1982, the family moved to Haverhill when Nat was appointed administrator of Haverhill Municipal (Hale) Hospital (now Holy Family Hospital). Here he supervised the move of the hospital from Buttonwoods Avenue to its new facility on Lincoln Avenue in Haverhill. In 1986, Nat accepted a position as administrator of Nantucket Cottage Hospital and in 1988 the couple moved to Glenburn, ME when Nat took a job as director of human resources at Eastern Maine Medical Center. He retired in 2001.

Nat devoted countless hours to volunteer endeavors. As a young father he served as a scout Cubmaster for the town of Georgetown. Nat was a member of the Haverhill, Nantucket, and Bangor Breakfast Rotary Clubs, served on the boards of directors of the North Shore VNA, the Haverhill VNA, the Merrimack Valley Health Planning Council (Chair), the Merrimack Valley Hospital Council, the Southern Massachusetts Hospital Council, the Maine Chapter of the American Heart Association (Chair), and was president of the Human Resources Association of Eastern Maine. In 2004, Nat became a recorder of oral histories for the Bangor Museum and Center for History, and in later years volunteered at Bangor’s American Folk Festival.

One of Nat’s passions was working on the family genealogy, a continuation of the work done by his grandmother and father. A life member of the New England Historical Genealogical Society, Nat enjoyed nothing more than spending hours poring over original sources in the library, looking for new information to add to the family history. He also loved to read and share books with friends and relatives. Whether it was the latest Stephen King novel, something by his favorite author, John Updike, or his daily Boston Globe, Nat was always reading. On Sundays he rarely failed to complete the Globe crossword puzzle, except when it was time to watch his beloved New England Patriots.

In 2020, Nat and Beth moved to Nichols Village in Groveland, MA. When Beth had a stroke in 2021 and required long-term care, Nat traveled from Groveland to North Andover to visit her several times a week. Then in 2023, when he needed more care, Nat moved next door to Beth, living his last few months at Ashland Farm in North Andover.

Nat was an avid reader of obituaries and always felt that an obituary should tell how a person died. Over the past 25 years he was proud to have survived pancreatic cancer and diabetes, a brain aneurysm, prostate cancer, a heart valve replacement and congestive heart failure, kidney disease, vascular dementia, and several falls. Then on June 11, 2023, Nat fell and broke his hip and pelvis. He passed away a week later, on Father’s Day, from complications due to the fall.

Nat is survived by his wife of 66 years, Beth Ann Bentz Bond of North Andover, MA; his children Jennifer Hickman and her husband Paul of Andover, MA, Eben Bond and his wife Laurie of Fremont, NH, Kendra Niehaus and her husband Bill of South Riding, VA; his grandchildren Jacob Bond of Hookset, NH, Jason Bond of Fremont, NH, Campbell Niehaus of Pittsburgh, PA and Molly Niehaus of South Riding, VA; his siblings’ spouses and many nieces and nephews. Nat was predeceased by his parents; his brothers Charles Bond, Alan Bond, and Jonathan Bond; and his sister Priscilla Bond Goff.

Burial will be private at the Pine Hill Cemetery in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Donations in Nat’s memory may be made to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692 or the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 7023, Merrifield, VA 22116-7023, or on their respective websites. Arrangements by Driscoll Funeral Home, Haverhill. For guestbook, visit www.driscollcares.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Nathaniel Bond, please visit our floral store.