Stephanie Marie Damadio

Dr. Stephanie Damadio died peacefully on May 12, 2023. She was born on the first day of Spring, March 21, 1951 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Dr. Randal and Juanita Houidobre. She held a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from the University of Maryland, a Masters of Forensic Sciences from George Washington University and a Doctorate in Biological Anthropology from the University of Florence, Italy.

Her professional career began at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History where for 15 years she assisted national and international scholars in their scientific research as well as conducting her own. Additionally, she performed work on forensic skeletal material for numerous government and law enforcement offices nation and world wide as one of the few women in the field at the time. She lectured at the University of Padova, Italy; University of Jordan; Egyptian Ministry of Justice; Smithsonian Institution, FBI Academy, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, St. Louis University, N Virginia Criminal Justice Academy, George Washington University, Medical Examiner’s Offices-Maryland & Virginia. She felt her forensic work allowed the victims the last opportunity to testify on their own behalf. Conducting field work in Algeria, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Italy, Jordan, Mali, Peru, US and Yemen, where she learned Italian, Spanish, French and Arabic (including the more colorful phrases), she was charismatic unique force of nature who could talk to anyone in any walk of life and set them at ease. She also worked as an editor, translator and interpreter in Italy.

After returning from Italy, she was employed at an agency of the U. S. Department of Interior as the National Curator which entailed using her international experience creating policies and providing technical and funding assistance for 30 years to over 500 non-governmental museums holding millions of federal artifacts. Additionally, she reviewed proposed federal legislation and policies with an incisive eye that exposed hidden problems and agendas that assisted the federal government make informed laws and policies.

She met her soulmate and best friend, Bob Laidlaw in 1994 and together they were a formidable force both professionally and personally. Together they could do almost anything. Their marriage has been filled with love, devotion, compassion, humor and warmth: it was clear to even the most casual observer this special couple was more than the sum of their individual qualities: they were always best together.

Stephanie was a unique force of nature and lived life on her terms. Not suffering fools easily, she held a deep commitment to justice and will be fondly remembered and for her beautiful smile, dry humor and generosity of spirit. She was always elegant and sophisticated with a magical presence defined by her grace and a quick wit that endeared her to those around to her. Stephanie embodied beauty, joy, compassion and a deep love for others. Her talents in creating landscapes outside and beautifully welcoming interiors in any home were described by many as delightful of her own inner beauty. Bob was often asked where he found a landscaper with such talent and athletics, to which he would reply, “you could not afford her. That is the work of my beautiful wife.” Stephanie loved books, loved learning and had a curiosity and unquenchable thirst for knowledge and new facts. She often said she was the largest repository of incredibly interesting and useless information, but also facts essential to a full, positive and fulfilling life.

You can honor Stephanie by, being kind and courteous to one another; smile, offer a compliment, inquire how someone or their family is. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Smile Train Foundation https://www.smiletrain.org/ which provides doctors to correct cleft palates of children that otherwise would be denied a real chance at a quality life. Stephanie believed a smile, and things that make you smile, are essential in life.