Natalie Rehnquist, U.S. Chief Justice's Wife

WASHINGTON - Natalie Cornell Rehnquist, 62, the wife of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, died of cancer yesterday at the National Institutes of Health.

Mrs. Rehnquist, who lived in Arlington, Va., was born in San Diego. She graduated from Stanford University, where she met her future husband. After college she moved to Washington, where she worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

After her marriage in 1953, Mrs. Rehnquist lived in Phoenix and was active in the Junior League there. The couple returned to Washington, D.C., in 1969 when Rehnquist was appointed assistant attorney general by President Nixon.

From 1972 to 1980, Mrs. Rehnquist was director of volunteer services at the National Lutheran Home for the Aged in Rockville, Md.

She was a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bethesda, Md.

In addition to her husband, survivors include three children, James Rehnquist of Quincy, Mass.; Janet Rehnquist of Arlington; and Nancy Spears of Middlebury, Vt.; two sisters, Ruth Sawday and Catherine McCollom, both of Julian, Calif.; one brother, H.D. Cornell of San Diego; and six grandchildren.