Mindi Joye Schrader: 1974-2020

We lost our Mindi Joye Schrader April 15, 2020. Our hearts are broken, but we are so blessed to have had her for 45 years. Mindi was born Nov. 5, 1974, in Richmond, B.C., Canada, to Terry Schrader and Donna Hagedorn Schrader. Her first year was spent in a “cabin in the woods” in Parson, B.C. The family then moved to Independence Valley, Rochester, Wash., where she resided until graduating from Rochester High School in 1992.

Min’s life was tied to education. She studied at Western Washington University, South Puget Sound Community College and graduated with a bachelor of arts and bachelor of science from Evergreen State College. Then, she went to California State University at Long Beach to work toward her masters in Physics which she continued at Portland State University. Min was currently there working on her doctorate in Physics. She was a teaching assistant at Long Beach and Portland State and was most proud of her students’ growth and her relationship with them.

Min was an artist as well as a scientist. She painted, drew, sewed, gardened, cooked and baked--all with an artistic eye. She made Christmas and celebration gifts and cards--always beautifully done and fitting to the occasion and the person.

She comes from a large family and is survived by her parents; many aunts, uncles and cousins on both the Schrader and Hagedorn sides.

Her mother is one of 12 children and her father is from a family of five children, so gatherings are usually large and she loved being a part of them. She always offered to bring her beautiful pies.

Min is also survived by her fiancé and partner of nine years, Jason Drury, who she loved so much and she was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to “spend decades with him”; his daughters, she thought of as her own, Alex Drury of Portland, Ore., and Natalie Rowlee and husband, Thomas of Nashville, Mich., with her newly born twin granddaughters, Lilith and Athena.

There will be a celebration of Mindi’s life planned in coming months when it is deemed safe to hold a large gathering.