Elizabeth Leslie

Elizabeth Allen Leslie graduated from the Oshkosh Normal School in 1922. She was a member of the all-star basket-ball team, glee club, oratorical association, and the social life council. Her teaching career began in Manitowoc, where she taught junior high school English and history. After further study in Madison, her teaching assignments brought her to Appleton and back to Oshkosh. Elizabeth spent her summers working as a camp counselor on Chambers Island. She took a year off from teaching to spend with her family on the Florida gulf, which only further strengthened her global vision of nature, environmental issues, and the sanctity of the land. After her marriage to industrialist John Woodworth Leslie, Elizabeth was able to provide active, ongoing support to those environmental projects dear to her heart.

Elizabeth established the Leslie-Allen Trust Fund at the UW Oshkosh Foundation, in memory of her parents, Silas Marsh Allen and Isabelle Strong Allen to be used for nature conservation and related uses. Additionally, the trust funds fellowships to biology students, and is used to maintain the Allen Marshland, land which Elizabeth and her sister, Marjorie Allen, donated in 1968 to enhance the study and understanding of natural ecology and field biology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Silas Marsh Allen (1867-1932) was a railway mail clerk for nearly 40 years. He was formerly a school principal. Silas graduated from Oshkosh Normal School in 1890. He was a member of the Maccabees and the Sons of the Revolution. In 1895, he married Isabelle Strong. Isabelle was a school teacher.