Edward Bassett Wasson

Ed Wasson went through his long and full life at a steady pace. That’s how he hiked fourteeners and how he lived to 98. He was born in Columbus, Ohio to Isabel (Bassett) and Theron Wasson, both geologists. The family moved to River Forest, Illinois where he grew up as the middle child between his two sisters, Teedy and Anne. He graduated high school from Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; attended Princeton University where he received a degree in engineering and Stanford University where he earned a masters in petroleum geology.

Ed met Jane Edmondson at a college mixer. They were married on New Year’s Day 1949 in Elizabeth, New Jersey before honeymooning in Aspen where they learned to ski.

Ed worked as a petroleum geologist for the California Company and Cosden Petroleum before he left to become an independent wildcatter in Denver. He loved geology and stayed involved his entire life; reading seismic charts and core sediment samples; pursuing in-depth research and making calculations of risk in oil and gas exploration.

Outside of work he was active in many different communities. He was a long time member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, served on the Planning Commission of Cherry Hills Village, served on the Board of Trustees of Outward Bound, the High Altitude Research Center and Crow Canyon Archaeological Center; he was a co-founder of the Arapahoe Tennis Club and an active member of the First Unitarian Society of Denver.

He instilled in his family a love of hiking, skiing and camping in the mountains. He was an avid world traveler; joined a raft trip as a geologist through the Grand Canyon with his son, John; trekked in Nepal twice with his sister, Teedy, and his daughter, Page; participated in educational trips all over the world. He sponsored international students and visited them in their home countries. Ed was a nurturer of trees and the land; he understood the importance of water as a precious resource and fine-tuned his irrigation systems; he was a creative visionary and planner; he was a serious conversationalist with friends of all ages, particularly with his grandchildren’s generation; he was a generous man with an understated dry wit.

Ed leaves his wife of seventy-five years, Jane; their four children, John, Kate, Page, Maria; his four grandchildren, Kaki, Nick, Christina, Luna; and his three great-grandchildren, Eva, Aidan and Preston along with many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Ed leaves us all waving from an alpine summit as he takes flight and spreads his wings.

Donations in memory of Edward Wasson may be made to:
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
www.crowcanyon.org
23390 Road K
Cortez, CO 81321