Alexander Kent Kendrick

January 29th, 1993 - September 4th, 2022

Biography

Alexander Kent Kendrick, Ph.D., 29, of Los Alamos, NM, lost his valiant battle with brain cancer surrounded by his wife Caroline and family in his home on Sunday, September 4, 2022.

Born to Laura (Tharp) and Brian Kendrick in Burnsville, Minnesota on January 29, 1993, the family moved to Los Alamos when Alexander was a baby. He attended the Los Alamos County schools.

Alexander loved caving with his father and his younger brother Coleman and joined the Pajarito Grotto when he was 8 years old. This passion of caving led Alexander to develop a digital cave radio for cavers, who, from deep inside a cave, could communicate with operators on the surface. This project won Alexander the Best of Category award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). It is just one of many honors, including an asteroid named after him, and an all-expenses paid trip to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, that he won at ISEF.

In 2015, Alexander earned a B.S. in physics with distinction at Harvey Mudd College. In August 2021, Alexander earned his Ph.D. in geophysics at Stanford University. His thesis is entitled, "Investigating the use of NMR [nuclear magnetic resonance] to estimate hydraulic conductivity." He studied under his research advisor Professor Rosemary Knight and collaborated with the Environmental Geophysics department at Stanford University. He served on the Graduate Student Advisory Committee as a liaison between geophysics graduate students and the Dean’s office of the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Science. Alexander was awarded a competitive ARCS (Achievement Rewards for College Scientists) Foundation scholarship during his graduate studies at Stanford.

In June 2021, Alexander married his sweetheart Caroline Wurden at Fuller Lodge in an epic pre-Delta variant celebration, complete with big band music, peonies, and cheesecake. He had won Caroline’s heart back in their high school science fair days, but it took a few years for him to catch on. Their love for each other was not even rivaled by their combined love of tea, science, board games, and sea chanties.

In addition to his many scholastic projects and achievements, Alexander worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Solar REU. Most recently, Alexander created the “Weather Almanac.” He designed, coded, and built a weather station that collected daily local weather data, and compared it to historical data for the same area. Recipients received a daily email with a plot and summary statistics of historical weather data. Alexander entered his Weather Almanac in the 2022 China-US Young Maker Competition, and in August 2022, Alexander’s project won first prize. Alexander designed the Weather Almanac as a template to inform people of trends for climate change in their local areas, promote citizen science, and increase climate change advocacy.

Alexander was a soccer afficionado, though he would prefer we call it football. He began playing as a young boy in local and Duke City soccer leagues, then joined the Los Alamos High School soccer team which won the 4A state championship in 2010. He continued playing recreationally through his graduate school years. He was a passionate fan of the Chelsea Football Club. During the time Alexander was at Stanford, he enjoyed attending professional soccer matches and watching many more at lunch time (and any other time) with his grad school buddies. He enjoyed making tea, pancakes, and cheese scones during the halftimes of early-morning matches.

Alexander was a seasoned traveler, having been to New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, France and England. He and Caroline enjoyed exploring Europe and car tripping along the west coast. The couple drove to many of the western U.S. National Parks and Monuments. A keen photographer, Alexander captured the vistas of his travels, and with macro photography, highlighted details that would otherwise go unnoticed. He shared his photography with his family and friends, who in turn shared a montages-worth of pictures of Alexander behind the camera.

Friends and family will remember Alexander for his passion for geophysics, exploration, and football, his love for family and friends, his persistent manners, his humanity and grace, and his deep love for Caroline.

Alexander is survived by his wife Caroline; his parents Laura and Brian; his brother Coleman of Knoxville, TN; his grandparents, Charles and Linda Tharp of Las Cruces, NM, and Cagle Kendrick of Santa Fe, NM; his uncle Craig Tharp and wife Chandra, their daughter Alyssa and granddaughter, Sawyer of Las Cruces, NM; his uncle Craig Kendrick and wife Julie and their children Traci, Katie, Bailey, Michael, Claire and granddaughter Emma of Tomball, TX; his in-laws Nancy and Glen Wurden of White Rock, NM; Caroline’s siblings Katherine (Wurden) and husband Craigen Higgins of Los Alamos, NM; Alexander and wife Meredith Wurden of Sacramento, CA; Caroline’s nieces and nephews Tegan and Raleigh Wurden, Etta, Linden, and Calvin Higgins; close friends from across the globe; and his dog Benny. Alexander was predeceased by his grandmother Sonja Kendrick.

The family has requested a private burial. A Celebration of Life will be announced at a future date. In memory of Alexander, contributions may be sent to the Glenn Garcelon Foundation, which supports brain tumor patients, caregivers, and their families. The family would like to thank Patricia Murphy, PNP and the Pediatric NeuroOncology team from Lucile Packard Children’s hospital at Stanford University, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church of Los Alamos, NM, and Ambercare of Espanola, NM.

	About
	Name	Alexander Kent Kendrick
	Date of Birth	January 29th, 1993
	Date of Death	September 4th, 2022

	Memorial

	Funeral Home	Rivera Family Funeral Home - Los Alamos
	Address	1627 A Central Avenue Los Alamos NM 87544 United States

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Tributes

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Don Branch published a tribute .

My condolences to the Kendrick family, Alexander was a fine young man with an unmatched brilliance. God comfort you during this difficult time and in all the days to come.

Bev Kleinfelder published a comment .

A wonderful young man with a beautiful family. God bless


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Matthew Lees published a tribute .

Alex was someone with the purest of hearts. The fact I was lucky enough to know him is one of the greatest privileges I have had. He was selfless, generous, and unfailingly kind. I was always so impressed – and humbled – to see the grace with which he carried himself during his battle with brain cancer. I reminisce fondly on any number of fun times with Alex: he hosted great Halloween parties, was a great laugh when trying to play card games we did not know the rules to, and was good to share a general gripe and moan with at Friday Beer too.

When I reflect on Alex’s life, I am filled with joy at the experiences we shared. The photo I am sharing is one of my favourite such experiences: his engagement to Caroline. Alex had the brilliant idea to have a Harry Potter themed proposal, with letters spelling out “WILL YOU MARRY ME” arriving for Caroline to unjumble. I was delighted to be one of the delivery owls, providing me a front-row seat to see the joy on his and Caroline’s face. I will miss Alex dearly, but most of all, I feel blessed to have had the chance to know him.


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Ryan Smith published a tribute .

Alex was one of those people that was always pleasant to be around. He made everyone around him comfortable. He had a very unique combination of being brilliant and extremely humble about it. I have fond memories of playing pick-up soccer with him at Stanford, and stopping by his office to chat. It struck me that throughout all the difficulties he experienced, during every interaction I had with him he was extremely kind and thoughtful. My heart goes out to Caroline and the rest of his family. He was a wonderful person, and will be greatly missed.


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Jens-Erik Lundstern published a tribute .

I loved spending time with Alex. Alex had a light-hearted, sometimes goofy, slightly mischievous sense of humor. He was quietly adventurous, perpetually good-natured, and unfailingly polite. Alex had a way of contributing everywhere he went, through his work and his relationships. He seemed to have a quiet confidence and sense of purpose.

Alex was full of curiosity about his world and the people and creatures in it — he seemed to always have a half-dozen fascinations and hobbies going at any time. His love of computers and electronics was mixed in with enthusiasm about tea, the baby birds that hatched in the planter outside his dorm room, hiking, Chelsea football, Survivor, and of course geophysics. He had a way of sharing some of his joys with others and also picking up others’ interests, making mutual experiences out of them.

Alex was usually more interested in sharing adventures or inside jokes with friends than talking about himself. One time on a run with Alex, I jokingly asked whether he’d won the New Mexico State science fair, thinking he’d tell me a story about the impossibility of winning such a thing in a state with Los Alamos and Sandia Labs. Instead, he got very quiet, and then sheepishly told me that he actually had. It turns out that he’d also gone on to win the International Science Fair, a fact that he hadn’t bothered to tell anyone at Stanford until I accidentally dragged it out of him.

When I first saw Alex after his brain surgery, I was so relieved to see that he still had some of his much-loved mannerisms (a certain hand wave; “epic!”; “sub-optimal”). It feels impossible to believe that the world could lose Alex and all the highly distinctive, quirky fun that he brought it. Alex’s passing is a huge loss for all of us who loved him, as well as for all the people who should’ve one day benefitted from his friendship, good nature, and scientific contributions. He is greatly missed.