Leslie Fisher Tollefson

1971 - 2022

Leslie Fisher Tollefson

You may not have known Leslie Fisher Tollefson, but in her 51 years on earth she probably made things a little bit better for you or someone you knew. Leslie, who died suddenly on September 23, 2022 at her home in Culpeper, Virginia, made it her life's mission to help others and make the world a brighter place. In that, she succeeded admirably.

Leslie was a voracious reader and connoisseur of all things strange, macabre and absurd. She loved traveling and visiting random graveyards to learn more about the people buried there, and never, ever passed up reading a historical marker or sign. She was obsessed with cats, accumulating as many as her husband would allow and donating monthly to a slew of cat rescue organizations. She collected pens fanatically, and if you're missing a favorite the odds are good that she swiped it from you when you weren't looking. She loved true crime podcasts and stories, falling asleep nightly to the dulcet tones of murder. She had the candy tastes of a six year-old, and was probably the only person over 50 who ever bought Fun Dip for herself. In a town where everyone dresses in black and gray, she wore the most colorful outfits she could find and loved anything covered with rhinestones or glitter.

But most of all, she loved making others' lives easier, whether strangers or not. She volunteered for multiple charities, took meals to the sick and injured, and donated money to countless people in need. She made friends with everyone she met – as long as they didn't lollygag in the aisle at the grocery store, treat service workers rudely or drive slowly in the left lane. Those people should count themselves lucky she didn't often take advantage of her extensive knowledge of how to murder people and dispose of bodies.

Leslie was born on July 24, 1971 in Torrance, California to Owen and Jacqueline (Stolzenberger) Fisher. At the time Owen Fisher was an employee of Western Airlines, for which he worked until Western was purchased by Delta Airlines in 1986. She inherited her tireless work ethic and care for others from Owen, who worked for over 30 years for Western/Delta and routinely brought travelers home for dinner and a free bed when they got stranded in Casper.

Owen's work took him to Casper, Wyoming, where Leslie grew up with her older sister Ann and younger brother John. She was a 1989 graduate of Kelly Walsh High School, where she ran track and began a lifelong love of writing and editing for the yearbook and school paper. She later graduated from Casper College, where she worked in the alumni office and in sports information.

She began working at the Casper Star-Tribune after high school, becoming an expert graphic designer, sports editor and writer, winning multiple Associated Press awards in the years she spent there. At the Star-Tribune, she was beloved in the newsroom and met her future husband Chris when he took a job as a reporter there in 1994. Despite his general disregard for assigned deadlines and story lengths, she refrained from murdering him and even grew to not despise him in the years they worked closely together to produce election content and special sections. She left the Star-Tribune to move to Wichita, Kansas in 2002, where she worked at the Wichita Eagle.

In 2008, she took an enormous leap of faith and moved to Washington, DC to join her future husband. Leslie and Chris were married on July 15, 2012 on the banks of the North Platte River in Casper, just across the street from the Star-Tribune building where they met nearly 20 years before. They were joined by friends, family and many of the newspaper family they made there.

Leaving the newspaper business, she put her enormous gifts in logistics, information management and customer service to good use. She served as operations manager for a series of government contractors including Cobham Surveillance and her last employer, the Kenific Group. In that role she helped provide support and logistics for federal law enforcement, military and Homeland Security agencies.

Chris and Leslie enjoyed 10 years of marriage, and had just celebrated their 10th Anniversary with a trip to New Orleans when her enormous heart gave out. Leslie was preceded in death by her parents, Owen and Jackie, and her brother, John. She is survived by her husband and their two children, Cameron Tollefson, a senior at Sandy Spring Friends School and Walker Tollefson, a Freshman at St. Mary's College of Maryland. She is also survived by her sister, Ann Whalen and her husband, Chris Whalen; brother-in-law, Jeff Tollefson and his partner, Ioana Visan; mother-in-law, Ann Tollefson; nephews: Cory and his partner Jessica, Nathan and Michael; nieces: Sapphire and husband, Brennan and Amethyst and partner, Tim; she took special pride in her great nieces and nephews: Christopher, John, Scott, Nova, Bea and Lola. She is also survived by a multitude of extended family, friends and strangers whose lives she touched.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Found and Sons Funeral Chapel in Culpeper. A very informal memorial get-together will take place on Sunday, October 9, 2022 in Casper at Gruner Brothers Brewing beginning at 1:00 p.m. All of Leslie's friends and family are invited to pull up a chair, grab a beer and reminisce about one of the best human beings who ever lived. A separate memorial event will be held in Culpeper later in October for those on the East Coast. Leslie will be interred next summer next to her parents and brother on the Fisher Family's ancestral land in Soldier, Kansas.