Some people follow a single career path, but Leslie Elizabeth Wildesen's curiosity and intellectual passion led her to add new degrees, explore new jobs and tap new interests. A respected archaeologist, teacher and conservationist, she was guided by a deep commitment to human history and the importance of building support for cultural and environmental resources.
Wildesen, '66, died on January 24 in her home in Portland, Ore., of breast cancer. She was 69.
After Stanford, Wildesen earned a master's degree in anthropology from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University), followed by a PhD in archaeology from Washington State University. She began her career as the first regional archaeologist for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest in Portland from 1974 to 1980 and as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University's public history program.
Wildesen later became a Congressional Fellow for the Society of American Archaeology and staffer for Congressman John Seiberling, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks. In 1984 she was named Colorado State Archaeologist and Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, advising federal and state agencies on archaeological issues, encouraging Native American participation and supporting the development of the Centennial Farms and Ranches program. She served three terms as an expert member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, overseeing U.S. involvement in the UNESCO Convention on International Trafficking in Cultural Property.
Following a one-year assignment in Pittsburgh with the Office of Surface Mining, negotiating environmental agreements between federal and state entitles, Wildesen returned to Colorado in 1990 and became regional archaeologist for the USDA Forest Service in the Rocky Mountain Range. Three years later she and her partner, Jeanne Crouch, co-founded Environmental Training & Consulting International, based in Portland.
"Leslie and her colleagues from Washington State University helped to define how we care for archaeological and cultural resources on public lands in this country," Crouch said. In her second career, Wildesen became one of the country's leading experts on compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and related cultural and historic resource protection legislation.
"Leslie was a keen intellect, great fun and knowledgeable on more topics than most of us can fathom," added Crouch. Of her time on the Farm, she noted, "Leslie's real major at Stanford was playing the guitar," a passion she never lost, along with learning to write a B+ paper at 3:00 a.m.
Wildesen is survived by Crouch, her partner of 28 years, whom she married on January 10.
Julie Muller Mitchell, '79, is a writer in San Francisco.
