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Biographical Sketch: Alexa Roberts
Superintendent of the Southeast Colorado Group
Jeanne asked me to write a short “bio”
about myself for the website, but when I asked her what she wanted, she
wanted my whole life story and all my current statistics! I said
ok, but not my weight... She told me I did have to say that I am 47
years old…
I am originally from Albuquerque,
where my mom still lives. My dad passed away two years ago, but had
spent nearly 40 years working for the USDA as a veterinarian developing
pesticides for external parasites on sheep and cattle. My mom taught
remedial reading to kids with learning disabilities. My sister is
currently going to school in Chicago.
During high school I had all kinds of
jobs – from cleaning houses, to telephone soliciting, and working in a
cheese store. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after graduation, but
thought about veterinary work or range science. So I went to the
University of New Mexico and there discovered the field of archaeology.
From 1979 through about 1986 I worked every summer on archaeology
projects in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and on an island near Georgia.
One of those projects was at a national monument in northern Arizona and
included doing oral history work with Navajo people. That project led to
working for the Navajo Nation’s archaeology department in Window Rock,
Arizona.
Then in 1986 the Navajo Nation opened
the first tribal historic preservation department in the country. I quit
archaeology and became the Navajo Nation’s Deputy Historic Preservation
Officer for eight wonderful years. Mostly my job involved working for
the Navajo tribal government in the effort to preserve places of special
significance in the history and culture of the Navajo people. During
that time I finished my doctoral program but in my spare time my former
husband and I collected and found homes for stray dogs, usually our
home! We had more dogs than I’ll admit to, but now I only have three.
In 1994 I left the Navajo Nation and
joined the National Park Service as an anthropologist in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. I stayed there for eight years, during which time the Sand Creek
Massacre Site Location Project began. I was asked to document oral
histories from the Cheyenne and Arapaho descendents of the Massacre.
After legislation was passed authorizing the establishment of the new
National Historic Site, I was asked to oversee the effort to make the
establishment happen. I moved to Colorado in 2001.
Before leaving Santa Fe, I met Jeff
Campbell, a Senior Special Agent with the New Mexico Attorney General’s
Office, and a writer. Jeff retired from law enforcement and moved to
Eads last year, where he is writing and active with the Artists of the
Plains Gallery. We are also involved with the new Kiowa County Historic
Preservation Commission. We are very happy to be here and become part of
this wonderful community. We have made such good new friends in the
short time we have been here. I love my job and this part of the
country, and don’t plan on going anywhere else for the foreseeable
future. So if I haven’t met you already, I look forward to meeting you
soon!
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