Lots of news organizations maintain pre-written obits so that when a celebrity passes, they open up the file and need to just update a few later details and they are ready to publish. Same deal here. When I look back on my life - I'm a young 70 years old at this writing - I'm amazed at all the cool things I've been able to do.
While I'm far from a celebrity, I'm going to help out anyone who needs to deal with my passing and also put in my 2 cents about my life before people start lying about it. I expect to be updating this over the next 30 years and be doing more cool things but life's not a guarantee.
last update 1/1/25 Hey I made it through 2024. In the words of Monty Python: I'm not dead! So for a little while at least, I can annoy hundreds of people on the internet with puns and memes.
Alright! If you're here that means one of two things. Either I forgot to reset the publish date and I'm still here, or I'm really dead. Both options are equally likely. So if option 2 is in place, first thanks and much love for reading this. I'm dead and won't know about it. But hey, it's a little bit of immortality, at least until Google kills off blogger.com. Lets get started.
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| Zoé with one of her running companions, Neo the Thunder Dog |
Cris "Zoé" Brady was born in January 1954 in Rockville, Maryland to John Francis Brady and Dorothy Anne Bauman, both deceased. She attended Dover High School and the University of Delaware when college was cheap and grades weren't inflated. She is survived by Susan Maggie Bazzel, her wife; Hank Bauman of Wilmington Delaware - uncle; Pete Bazzel brother-in-law, Tammy Peterson sister-in-law of Alexandria VA, and various climbers, runners, racers and bikers who she considered her extended family.
Zoé had an interesting and eclectic life. Workwise, lets get that crap out of the way first. She originally started working in the family business, Brady Transfer - a moving and freight forwarding company, when she was 13. After finishing college she came to help her father manage Wyoming Ice & Cold Storage, an adjacent established business. At the Cold Storage, she learned lots of hands-on skills like welding, electrical work and more including digging holes. When rising electricity prices forced the closing of the Cold Storage, she moved to Brady Transfer, eventually taking ownership. Zoé sold the moving business during the recession of the late 80's and started her entrepreneurial streak. She started Alpine Management Services, a condominium management company, followed quickly by Alpine Enterprise, a software and computer consulting company. Both companies were successful and profitable. In the late 90's, she was enticed to becoming the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of an internet startup, Order-Net.com. When Order-Net did not survive the 2nd round of investor funding, she joined EnsuredMail, another startup as Chief Technical Architect. EnsuredMail provided secure encrypted email for business and individuals. When the Internet bubble crashed, EnsuredMail was sold off by panicked investors and dissolved. Zoé joined TreeSoft, a consulting company which was transitioning into a software provider for commercial Real Estate. TreeSoft was acquired and eventually became part of the ALTUS fleet of companies. Along the way she filled many roles, becoming a Director of Product Management; leading international teams; and leading the Cloud Automation and Deployment teams of the company. She retired from ALTUS in 2021.
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| Zoé's Office, squeaky toy not company property |
Outside of work she pursued many interests. She was an accomplished rock and ice climber; climbing cliffs and mountains across the US and around the world. She climbed peaks in Nepal, the Alps and throughout the US and Canada. She was still climbing frozen waterfalls in her 60's and 70's.
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| On the summit of Chapelle de la Gliere in the French Alps |
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| My long time (40 years) climbing partner and friend Rick Sands, topping out on High Exposure in the Gunks |
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| Leading Standard, NEI 3+ in New Hampshire |
In her 30's and 40's she rode mountain bikes with a passion. Riding on trails up and down the east coast and partaking in mountain bike races in the local area. In her late 60's after an injury preventing her from running, she purchased an e-bike and started attacking the local trails again.
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| Learning how to mountain bike again in her 60's. Blood was involved. |
A chance event led her into another passion, motor racing. Zoé has always had the engineer mindset; always looking to figure out how things work; finding solutions for problems. She had the "Knack". And she loved cars. Motorsports was a perfect place to indulge that mindset. And driving came easy for her. She drove everything from sport bikes up to 18 wheeler tractor trailers. During college she drove school buses and the U of D shuttles. Over the course of her life she drove over 2 million miles often in poor conditions.
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| School Bus #66. She drove elementary and middle school kids while attending the U of D |
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| Getting a knee down with one of her sport bikes - Jefferson Circuit, WV |
From 1997 to 2021 she raced mostly Porsches at tracks from Canada down to Florida, achieving moderate success. Since she was self sponsored, she was the team of one; driving the truck and trailer to races; fixing and repairing anything; cooking for the crew and racing of course. She added how to rebuild motors and other skills to her skillset. She had several podiums in the 944 Cup National Championships to her credit along with numerous poles and wins in the regular seasons. She was an enthusiastic member of local car clubs, especially the Delaware Porsche Club. She was the Delaware PCA webmeister for 13 years; newsletter editor for several and the long time registrar for the club's Driver Education event at NJMP.
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| Her tires were too round, so she fixed that. @ NJMP |
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| Celebrating with her crew chief Maggie, after her 3rd place finish in the 944 National Championship. |
She had a lifelong love of being outdoors. Mountains and trails were her happy space. Many hours were spent hiking, running or orienteering. To stay fit for mtn biking or climbing, she was a runner for 30 years before knee injuries stopped her. After a 20 year hiatus, both knees were replaced and she went back running with a vengeance. She finished hundred of races from 5Ks and more. She was a member of several local running clubs, including Fusion Racing and GRIT (Girls Really Into Trails). She was a finisher of the London and Marine Corp Marathons. She developed a love of UltraRunning - trail races longer than a marathon - doing 50Ks and even a 50 miler.
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| Virtual London Marathon done (pandemic times) |
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| Racing with Demon Dog Hana |
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| Typical easy trail run in White Clay Creek Park |
Throughout her life she had a love of traveling. She spent a month traveling the width of China in 1982 while in her 20's. She followed that with trips to Nepal and Europe to climb. Eventually she visited over 40 countries. Her favorite country was always the "last one", finding enjoyment in every place she visited.
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| Halong Bay, Vietnam |
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| On the streets of Cuzco, Peru. She loved lamas. |
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| Istanbul, Blue Mosque in the background |
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| Havana Cuba |
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| Machu Picchu, Peru |
Surprisingly, since she was an "unmotivated" student in formal education, she became a prolific writer in her later years. Her writing followed the progression of the internet, writing car race reports on internet bulletin boards; content for several websites; blogs on dogs, racing and car restoration (https://alpinemotorsports.blogspot.com) ; tributes to her loved huskies (alpinedogsports.blogspot.com); and frequent sarcastic rants to her track attendees. She was a frequent poster to Facebook and Instagram where she loved to share things that tickled her (broad) fancy.
She was a voracious reader, with usually 2 books and an audiobook open at a time. She thought the Kindle was one of the worlds greatest inventions allowing her to travel with hundreds of books. She was on her 5th Kindle, the others eaten by her puppies along the way, which she forgave them.
A huge part of her life was her love of dogs. Starting with a homeless part-husky, collie mix picked up by one of her moving company crews, she shared her life with a succession of Siberian Huskies. Typically there were 3 at all times, though sometimes the number went up to 4 Sibes. The huskies shared many miles on the trails with her. There was usually a designated "official running dog" who was her companion on her trail runs. She and her dogs were a well known sight on the streets of the local community and trails as she walked them every day, no matter the weather.
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| Corey Dog, the one who started it all. |
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| The pack on the 'Picture Rock' in White Clay Creek |
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| Bailey, comforting Zoé after surgery. She was "The" Lifetime Dog. A rescue, she lived to be 14. |
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| Demon Dog Hana (aka Bailey re-incarnated) |
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| Turbo the Love Machine Her other 'Heart' Dog |
She was also a great lover of music from an early age. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, she came of age during the Rock explosion. But early rock wasn't her only love. She was a fan of all types of music. Early country, Bluegrass, Blues, Roots, Reggae, Dub & Ska, Americana, Folk and more. Cooking, coding, driving, walking the dogs and just chilling, music was always present. In her 20's she tried her hand at making music, not just listening. She learned to play the tin whistle when she was doing a deep dive into traditional Irish music. Later, the sound of a resophonic guitar called a Dobro used in Country, Blues and Bluegrass entranced her. She bought a Dobro and tried to learn how to play slide on it. This was pre-YouTube and Internet and everything was self taught. She occasionally jammed with local musicians but after 2 years, she believed she was lacking in talent and sold the Dobro.
But over the years, she lusted after a National Steel Guitar. Every decade or so, she would look for one, and then shocked by the prices, would push that desire back under the covers. When preparing for retirement the question was what's next, and she decided now was the time for the National. She bought a vintage 1934 National Steel Guitar and restarted her guitar journey with a focus on the Blues and slide guitar. Her guitar collection grew to 3 Resophonic guitars, a beautiful PRS McCarty 594 electric and several acoustics, including a nice Martin. She considered herself still very much a beginner after several years but it brought much happiness.
But over the years, she lusted after a National Steel Guitar. Every decade or so, she would look for one, and then shocked by the prices, would push that desire back under the covers. When preparing for retirement the question was what's next, and she decided now was the time for the National. She bought a vintage 1934 National Steel Guitar and restarted her guitar journey with a focus on the Blues and slide guitar. Her guitar collection grew to 3 Resophonic guitars, a beautiful PRS McCarty 594 electric and several acoustics, including a nice Martin. She considered herself still very much a beginner after several years but it brought much happiness.
At the beginning of her (2nd) guitar journey. Learning to play slide on a National Tricone.
An Elmore James (King of the Slide Guitar) version of the Robert Johnson classic: Dust My Broom.
While mountains were her first love, she was a fan of beach vacations, especially if they involved snorkeling. She had the good fortune to snorkel in amazing places around the world, including Mexico, Bali, Maldives and various Caribbean islands. A highlight was snorkeling with sharks and rays in Bora Bora.
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| Snorkeling with the Black Tip Sharks and Rays in Bora Bora, French Tahiti. (not my pic, my camera sucked) |
The love of seeing fishes had her build a pond in her front yard and populated with Koi, who she called her 'water puppies'. Maggie and her spent many hours enjoying watching the 'pups'. They all had names.
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| Some of her 'water puppies'. Sparkles (left), Turbo (white & black), Red Spot (middle) and Demon (black with orange belly) |
She loved being an engineer. When she wasn't building virtual structures inside her head as a software engineer, she also applied that mindset in the real world. Outside work, she could be found doing some project or another. She painted, installed tile, wood flooring, sheet rock (she hated and sucked at mudding the seams). She was also proficient at electrical work, and building networks and working on cars.
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| Working on the pond landscaping |
Zoé met the love of her life, Susan Maggie Bazzel, when Maggie chatted her up in a crowded Deer Park pinball room. Many years later they made it official and were married in 1992 in San Diego. The two brides were wearing matching Big Dog sweatsuits from the local Big Dog outlet. They were still married at the end.
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| On the way home in 2022 with the new puppy, Stormy. 1600 mile round trip in 2 days. |
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| While Maggie may be smiling, those are Zoé's beers :) |
Probably her greatest characteristic - other than her biting sarcasm - was her insatiable curiosity. Whether it was how things work, what was over that next mountain, or how someone was doing, she always wanted to find out. She was comfortable in chaos, willing to say "I don't know, but let's find out!" and then doing so.
A life well lived. Filled with love, dogs (another form of love), friends, adventure. sports, beer, puns, humor and intellectual challenge. Hopefully she will be greeted by all her Siberians over the Rainbow Bridge and a pint or two of stout. Cheers! She will be missed.
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