Our beloved, sweet Alexandria died peacefully in her sleep with her faithful dog, Sammy, by her side on Saturday, August 27, 2022. She was thirty years old, having been born March 18, 1992, in Portland, Oregon. Alex was dealing with a case of pneumonia when she passed away.
Her adoptive parents, Kent and Cathy Chadwick and their son Luke Yen-hui welcomed Alex into their lives in 1996. She was proud of having attended every public school on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Her enthusiasm for learning and life was particularly courageous in light of her developmental disabilities. She was a special-needs graduate of Bainbridge High School in 2011, having participated in the school choir and track & field team, and played an Oompa Loompa in a production of Willy Wonka.
She studied American Sign Language at Olympic College, taking six buses each way to the Bremerton campus. She was a dedicated, yearly volunteer at the Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction’s furniture department.
Alex was a professional animal lover. She had the best-cared for and longest living guinea pigs in town. Her devotion to her chihuahua-pug, TikTok-star, therapy-dog Sammy was deep and meaningful.
Living independently was Alex’s life-long goal and the supportive Virginia Villa apartments made that possible.
Alex loved the Seattle Sounders Football Club, Reba McEntire, Celtic Woman, and Bainbridge Island. The communities and people that knew and loved her here included the Baháʼí Assembly, St. Cecilia’s, Rolling Bay Presbyterian, Virginia Villa, School District staff and bus drivers, Kitsap Transit, Virginia Mason doctors and nurses, Kitsap Mental Health folks, Winslow Animal Clinic staff, the wonderful Bainbridge Island fire fighters, police, and EMTs, her Rotary Auction associates, her friends at Streamliner Diner and Westside Pizza, her oldest and dearest friends Felecia and Kris Wahlberg, and many others.
Alex has followed her brother Luke through death’s portal, along with her maternal grandparents Herbert Ihrig and Barbara Guthrie and her uncle Ernie Nanpei Ihrig. Remaining in the land of the living are her parents, Kent and Cathy, her paternal grandparents Bob and Peg Chadwick, uncles and aunts: Gregg Chadwick & MarySue Heilemann, Tom & Dee Ihrig, Peter Ihrig & Barbara Olyer, Mary Ihrig, and Carol Ihrig; many cousins, and her biological siblings Chris Patrick and Nick Patrick (Miranda) with whom she recently reconnected.
She was an active member of the Bainbridge Baháʼí Assembly and was buried in the Baháʼí manner in Port Blakely Cemetery on September 2, 2022.
Alex’s Mac & Cheese Memorial Feast will be held at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church, 1310 North Madison, Bainbridge Island, on Saturday, September 10, at noon. Friends are encouraged to bring their favorite Mac & Cheese dish to share and stories to tell.
