Clerk

After graduating from Colby College, Karen worked for the National Archives, first on the Nixon Presidential Project and then the Office of Presidential Papers. A love of history from an earlier internship with the First Ladies Collection led her to pursue a Masters in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester where she met her husband, Simon, settled in Cornwall, England and started a family. The collapse of the tin mining industry brought the Leese family back to the States and ultimately, Natick, where the family grew and Karen’s second “career” as a volunteer began.

Karen’s volunteer focus has been upon the Arts and Education in Natick – first in the schools with the Natick Cultural Arts Committee, then the Natick Education Foundation, The Center for the Arts in Natick, the Natick Public Art Committee and TEDxNatick. It was a chance encounter at a school cultural arts event that led to her involvement at the Bacon Free Library, first helping with the rotating art gallery and now as a trustee.

When not in Natick, Karen and Simon can be found in Maine.