Denise (Keyes) Alderisio Garrott

Of Cowansville, PA, age 79, passed away on Saturday, August 30, 2025, after a brief, sad infirmity. Survived by her husband Robert Lesko and daughter Christine Marie Garrott of Carlsbad, CA. Sister of Claire Keyes (Joel Aaronson) of Pittsburgh, her twin Dennis Keyes (Marg) of Karns City, PA, William Keyes (Mary Davis) of Pittsburgh, and Phillip Keyes (Petra Bernehed) of St. Petersburg, FL. Aunt of Hallie Harenski Heintz (Greg), Jason Harenski, and Michael Keyes (Jacqueline) and their children. Preceded in death by her parents Joseph L. Keyes and Olga Martin Keyes.

Denise lived an amazing and fiercely independent life. She was a founder of the Pittsburgh Free Clinic in the late 1970s. A resident of Armstrong County for almost fifty years, she gave back to the community by helping to found and run the rural health clinic in Cowansville and was instrumental in establishing Kittanning's HAVIN women's shelter in the 1980s.

Bird watching with close friends took her through most of the county's roads, on Christmas birdcounts in all weather, and to see tropical species in Costa Rica. Just before she turned fifty, and while mostly working full-time, she earned a Doctorate in Counselor Education. She took her mother to see Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, and in later years her interest in archaeology brought her to many native sites in the desert southwest and Moundbuilders cultural locations in eastern America, stretching from Minnesota, Ohio, and West Virginia, to Alabama and Florida. Astronomers from Pittsburgh gathered on her rural property for skywatching parties and she travelled with a group of them to the Atacama Desert in Chile to photograph Haley's Comet. She travelled alone to Papua New Guinea, with small groups in Australia, on a research project in China, and through Thailand and Myanmar. While working in research at Pitt she was invited to present at a conference in Uppsala, Sweden. Arriving in Ahmedabad on a long-planned trip to India, Denise was surprised just days later to be robed, painted in henna, and bejeweled for a best friend's wedding there, then exploring some of the country by herself. And in 2014, almost seventy, Denise was able to set foot on her sixth continent on a three week trip to Africa. Through all of this she held multiple jobs in education, counseling, and research and took great pride in caring for the many gardens on her beautiful country property, and hosting wild women weekends and family gatherings there.

Friends are invited to attend a graveside service at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park, 121 Colorado Street, Verona PA 15147, on Friday, September 5, at 10:30am. Memorial contributions should be made to HAVIN Shelter and Services, P.O. Box 983, Kittanning PA 16201, www.havinpa.org.

Arrangements by Kristin L. Hauman for Natural Funeral Company. Memories and condolences may be left in the guestbook at www.naturalfuneralcompany.com.