Laurie (Sleight) Kleespies

Following WSHS, I attended the University of Washington from '73 to '75, where I met my future husband, Tom. I then attended WRAIN (Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing) '75-'77, in Washington DC, graduating with a BS in Nursing from the University of Maryland. Tom and I started dating in DC in '77, but alas, after graduation, I had to move on and do my duty as an Army Nurse (assigned to Fort Leonard Wood, MO), so we said 'good-bye'. Long story short, we got back together in a long distance relationship, and got married (twice!) in 1979. I was able to transfer to Fort Ord, CA, where Tom was living and working in Monterey as a atmospheric research scientist. My army nursing career ended in 1984, when I was side-lined with severe asthma.

At that point, I changed gears and concentrated on raising a family. We have a daughter (In Edmonds) and a son (near Baltimore). Both are happily married, and we have one grandson. Our first son was born with congenital cardiac anomalies, and sadly died of meningitis at age 5 months.

We have moved nine times since getting married, and each move was voluntary. CA (5 years), MA (5 years), UT (1 year), MA (3 more years), MD (21 years), and CO (3 years). In 2014, we sold or home in MD (in 3 days), and were 'homeless in a good way!', as they had not yet broken ground on our new custom-built and final home in Loveland, CO.

In 1990, I started a woodworking business. As that is a rather broad topic, I began by making toys and puzzles and let my kids be my 'toy testers'. I then moved on to woodturning, creating many thousands of pens, pencils, fountain pens and other woodturned items over 25 years. I sold my work at high-end art and craft shows in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as in galleries. During this time I also did custom work, i.e. tables, desks, wine 'butlers', jewelry cases, etc. I now have a very nice woodshop/studio in a 2-car tandem garage, and concentrate on creating custom work for clients. As a professional woodworker, I am definitely keeping busy with my business Heirloom-Design when I am not traveling. My latest passion is creating chairs and bar stools, along with other small furniture.

I am an avid birder, and enjoy photography, jogging, skiing, traveling, gardening, and basically, anything that doesn't involve cleaning the house. I am interested in using native perennials and grasses for our pollinators, and have planted an entire water-wise yard. No more lawn to mow! Trying to do our part for the environment also means we drive an electric car that is mostly powered by solar. Our road trip vehicle is a hybrid that gets about 60 mpg. We are loving life in Loveland.