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It’s with great sadness that I share a note from Shiloh Blue, letting us know that Chris Witwer passed away this past year. Chris was one of the very first people to contribute to Wallyhood: my first post was in 2008, and in 2009, she began sending me photos she had taken around the neighborhood (of things like guerrilla art in Gas Works). Shortly after, she started writing articles for the young blog. Chris was drawn to write for Wallyhood for the same reasons I was: she took great pleasure in crafting a story and then sharing that story to help nurture a community. You can see it come through so clearly in her very first article for Wallyhood, The Melons Are Coming. I mean, anyone can tell you the hours of the Farmers Market, but it takes a capital-W Writer to carry you into their memories to do it. Thank you, Chris, for sharing your stories with us and helping get this little blog on its feet. You will be missed.

Former Wallyhood contributor, Chris S. Witwer, CIP (56), aka Chris the Writer, as she loved to be known, shrugged off the confines of her failing body after a long battle with cancer on December 3, 2024. She passed peacefully in her sleep at her home in Rockville, Maryland, held in the arms of her wife, with her beloved kitty Stella in her lap. She is now free to ride the wind and waves she always loved alongside the beloved whales, dolphins, orcas, and seals she adored photographing at any opportunity.

Devastatingly, Chris has left behind her shattered but endlessly grateful wife of 11 years and love of 22 ½ years, or 8,193 days and forever, Shiloh Blue (formerly known as L. A. Vess). Chris was also forced to say goodbye to her two precious fur babies, Stella and Molly. Chris is also survived by her parents, John and Joyce Witwer, and sister Kathy. She is preceded in death by her sister Cindy, paternal grandparents Lee and Polly Witwer, whom she cherished, and maternal grandmother Ruth Granade. Along the way, she also lost three other beloved fur babies: her childhood kitty Boots, her boon companion Mozart, and her sweet baby Dolce.

Chris enjoyed a 20+ year storied career in the protection of medical research human subjects that spanned the country, including Quorum Review Institutional Review Board (now Advarra) and the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. She was also proud to serve many years on the Council for Certification of IRB Professionals, part of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research, before proudly being named co-chair in 2023. Chris gathered an enormous community of friends and chosen family from all over the world—too many to name. Still, her wife wishes to give special thanks to Barbie, for her boundless love and joy; to Jo, Marianne, and Linda for helping to ensure Chris was cared for in the best ways imaginable in her last months; and to Jill, for taking care of Chris’s favorite person ever besides her wife, and making sure she is happy and thriving.

More than just a beloved wife and amazing colleague, Chris was also a beautiful piano player, a singer, previously with the Austin Tapestry Singers, and she was passionate about photography, especially of beautiful landscapes, wild beaches, and magnificent marine life. Chris also loved to travel whenever she could—especially if art museums were involved—or just pick a direction nearby to go adventuring. You could also find her volunteering for causes she believed in whenever she had the chance, including several years with Seattle’s Seal Sitters Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SSMMSN). Above all things, however, Chris loved to write, including for the Wallyhood blog for several years. Her favorite author, Eudora Welty, greatly inspired her, especially the short story “A Worn Path.” In addition to penning numerous articles and essays over the years, Chris published two bucket-list books in the last year of her life: A Deafening Absence, a collection of short stories, and Rubbings, a travelogue about backpacking through Europe before the advent of cellphones and the internet. The best way to honor her memory is to read them—they are available through her Amazon author page—particularly while enjoying an Old Fashioned, if you imbibe, or a nice slice of cake, as she was very fond of both.

As those who knew Chris would likely understand, she wanted no fanfare or fuss at her passing. She was sent back to stardust at a simple cremation with her loving wife as witness. Such a good, honest, and genuinely kind soul should have had a forever of tomorrows, but instead, can now only hope to be remembered for the incredible human being she was, the devoted and caring wife she was, and the loyal and kind friend she was. She made lasting impacts, great and small, on so many, personally and professionally. She lives on in those beautiful ripples she sent out into the world, making it a more wonderful place for every moment she was in it, and for long after she is gone.

Anyone who might wish to remember Chris at one of her favorite places, Alki Beach, with one of her very favorite guilty pleasures, tacos from Marination Ma Kai, please feel free to meet up there with her wife, Shiloh, at 1660 Harbor Avenue SW on November 1st, 2025, from 2 to 3 pm.

The full memorial can be read online. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Seal Sitters or Happywhale.

– Shiloh Blue