Garrott

Denise (Keyes) Alderisio Garrott, of Cowansville, 79, passed away Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, after a brief, sad infirmity.

She is survived by her husband, Robert Lesko; and daughter, Christine Marie Garrott of Carlsbad, Calif. She was the sister of Claire Keyes (Joel Aaronson) of Pittsburgh, her twin, Dennis Keyes (Marg) of Karns City, William Keyes (Mary Davis) of Pittsburgh and Phillip Keyes (Petra Bernehed) of St. Petersburg, Fla. She was the aunt of Hallie Harenski Heintz (Greg), Jason Harenski and Michael Keyes (Jacqueline) and their children.

She was 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 50 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 bird counts in all weather and to see tropical species in Costa Rica. Just before she turned 50, 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 Mound Builders 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 traveled with a group of them to the Atacama Desert in Chile to photograph Haley’s Comet. She traveled 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 70, 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 she took great pride in caring for the many gardens on her beautiful country property, and hosting wild women weekends and family gatherings there.

GARROTT — Friends of Denise (Keyes) Alderisio Garrott, who died Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, are invited to attend a graveside service at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 5, at Penn Forest Natural Burial Park, 121 Colorado St., Verona, Pa.

Memorial contributions should be made to HAVIN Shelter and Services, P.O. Box 983, Kittanning PA 16201, www.havinpa.org.

Arrangements are by NATURAL FUNERAL COMPANY.

Memories and condolences may be left in the guest book at www.naturalfuneralcompany.com.

Please sign the guest book at www.butlereagle.com.