Born: 11 Janaury 1897, United States
Died: 21 February 1994
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Isabel Bassett
The following is republished from the National Park Service. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
• Born on January 11, 1897 in Brooklyn, New York.
• Graduated from Wellesley College in 1918 with a degree in history. Took classes in geology at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Traveled with her parents and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle party to Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks in the summer of 1919.
• The tour leader noticed her enthusiasm and asked her to lecture the group on the origins of Yellowstone’s geological features.
• Yellowstone superintendent Horace Albright overheard her lectures and offered her a job.
• Married Theron Wasson in June 1920.
• Was Yellowstone’s first woman park ranger, working from July 1-September 15, 1920.
• Her duties included manning the information desk in the morning and giving lectures in three different locations in the afternoon.
• Because her duties were those of a naturalist, she is often referred to as the NPS’s first woman rangernaturalist (although her title was park ranger).
• Albright offered her a “more important” position ifshe agreed to return the next summer but she was pregnant and declined.
• Moved to Oklahoma with her husband and son, where they both worked for the Pure Oil Company.
• Became one of the world’s first petroleum engineers.
• Moved to Forest River, Illinois in 1926 and she began teaching science classes to high school and adult learners for 10 years in the 1930s.
• No information has been found about her life from the 1940s until her death.
• Died on February 21, 1994 in La Grange Park, Illinois.