Lester (Les) Eldridge 1937-2019

The Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) is saddened to note the passage of Les Eldridge of Olympia on 8/1/2019 at age 81. Everyone, especially in the Puget Sound basin and associated with public life, governmental affairs, public policy, and heritage knew, or knew of, Les Eldridge.  In addition to his active public life, Les was a highly regarded historian and champion of history and historic preservation in all aspects of his varied and colorful career. He was thoroughly immersed in maritime history, author of several historic narratives, and later in life wrote a series of fictional novels based on actual American Civil War era maritime events and persons.  For more detail on Les' life, see this article from The Olympian: https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article233633577.html.