- Date Of Birth: February 27, 1984
- Date Of Death: September 2, 2022
- State: New Mexico
It is with a heavy heart that the family of Leslie C. Stannard, 38, reports that she passed away on September 2, 2022. Leslie was born on February 27, 1984, in Riverton, WY, to Robert and Elizabeth Stannard. She and her family moved to Farmington, NM, when she was just six months old. Leslie grew up in Farmington, attending elementary, middle, and high school there. In 2005, she enrolled at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, where she later met the love of her life, Brad Walters. The two quickly fell in love, and on June 29, 2014, they were married in a beautiful service at Blue Lake Ranch, just outside Durango.
Leslie earned her Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of New Mexico in 2018, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Leslie had devoted her professional life to helping her patients recover and move forward from trauma, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and a myriad of other mental health conditions. She changed the lives of many of her patients, and her kindness and compassion were felt by all. Her husband described her as “the kindest, most compassionate, most understanding, and most loving person,” he had ever known.
Leslie also taught Les Mills exercise classes and enjoyed physical fitness. Her dogs were some of her favorite “people” and she loved all the little “critters” found in nature, especially insects, frogs, and sea turtles. Leslie was a skilled cartoonist and enjoyed reading.
Her greatest passion, however, was her family and her presence will be missed dearly by all those that loved and knew her. Leslie is survived by her husband, Brad Walters; mother, Elizabeth Stannard; sister, Sarah Stannard; brother-in-law, Eric Nikkel; and nephew, Jakob Nikkel. She was preceded in death by her loving father, Robert B. Stannard, Jr.
