Virginia Couse Leavitt (1932–2024)

Virginia Couse Leavitt, Couse-Sharp Historic Site co-founder and guiding light, passed away on November 26, 2024, in Taos at the age of 92. She was the principal scholar on the work of her grandfather Eanger Irving Couse. Along with her late husband, Ernest Leavitt, she was the driving force behind preserving the archive, home, and studio of Couse along with the property of neighbor J. H. Sharp, also one of the original six members of the TSA.

“Through the years, Ginnie has been present in all our lives, keenly interested and involved in the programs and operations of the site,” said Davison Koenig, CSHS executive director and curator. “The preservation of the buildings and grounds, and ensuring that the archive and collections remain available and relevant to future scholars, was her life’s work.”

Ginnie lived as a child at the Couse Home and returned during the summers throughout her life. She spent some 35 years researching and writing her masterwork, Eanger Irving Couse: The Life and Times of an American Artist, 1866-1936, published by the University of Oklahoma Press. The 400-page book represents one facet of her legacy. She devoted decades to maintaining and obtaining records that formed the seed of the impressive archive at the heart of The Lunder Research Center, and she was named a Remarkable Woman of Taos in 2012 and a Taos Unsung Hero in 2019.

Carl Jones, former chair and president of The Couse Foundation, fondly recalled his long relationship with Ginnie and their partnership to achieve her vision for the Site. “To say that someone is irreplaceable is, in most cases, an overstatement; but in Ginnie’s case it was absolutely true because she literally was our living connection to members of the Taos Society of Artists and to the history of the Site.”

Alan J. Olson (1940–2025)

Alan J. Olson, who led the board of directors of The Couse Foundation from its inception in 2001 to 2016, died September 6, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado. Al had a deep love of early 20th-century Western art, and he and his wife, Carol-Ann, amassed a significant collection. After he retired from a successful career as an attorney and business leader, he even became an accomplished landscape painter.

This chapter of his life also produced what he always said was his proudest accomplishment other than his two daughters: The Couse Foundation, a charitable organization that made it possible to turn the home and studios of painters Eanger Irving Couse and Joseph Henry Sharp into the Couse-Sharp Historic Site.

In 2000, Al and Carol-Ann visited Taos on a quest to locate the former homes of all Taos Society of Artists members. Walking up Kit Carson Road, they stopped to chat with Ernie Leavitt, who happened to be emptying the trash in front of the Couse house. Delighted to accept Ernie’s offer of a tour, they were joined by Ginnie. The couple had served as custodians of the house during the summers for over 10 years at that time and shared its history with visitors.

Ginnie told the Olsons of the dream to create a foundation to preserve the property for the future. Al offered his services pro bono, and by March 2001 he had set up our nonprofit organization.

“We recognize and are eternally grateful for the vital role Al played in preserving our national treasure and launching the organization on the upward trajectory it maintains today. He and Carol-Ann continued their unwavering support long after he left our board,” said Rich Rinehart, former Couse Foundation chair and president.