Alex Nation, 37, San Bruno, CA, died peacefully in his sleep on the evening of Saturday, July 2, 2022. The cause of death is undetermined pending further investigation.
He was born in Springfield, IL on April 12, 1985. He was living in San Bruno, CA with his beloved dogs Clara and Cecilia (CiCi).
He was an amazing and loving son, brother, uncle and cousin and a wonderful doggie dad to Clara and CiCi. He is the son of Kathie Brasel of Beardstown, and Russ (Wendy) Nation of Springfield. His parents loved him more than words can express. He was the brother of Robyn Nation (John Aten), Sean Nation (Alyssa), Angela Langa (Patrick) and Ryan Nation (Karen); uncle of Wyat Hedge, Kirsten Langa, Kylie and Megan Nation, Zephyr Nation and Madison Meyer; nephew of Loraine Brasel and Terry Brasel (Tae “Jeannie”); cousin of Thomas Brasel (Meg) and Tara Jean Taylor, Loraina and Karina Trujillo and Ana and Cris Flores. He also leaves behind too many friends to list. We will all miss you so, so much Alex.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, William “Bill” Brasel, Agnes “Nancy” Brasel and Russell Nation Sr.
Alex was an intelligent, energetic and caring person. He loved engaging with people and will forever be affectionately remembered for his loving presence and his striking blue eyes. He had a lifelong love of technology and music and enjoyed going on adventures. He also loved discussing important issues. He was passionate about social justice causes and helping people. Many considered him to be a voice of reason. He spoke his mind and stood up for what he believed in but always tried to be kind and avoid conflict with others. He was truly one of a kind.
Music was a huge part of Alex’s life! He started playing the piano at the age of 6. At age 10 he began playing the trombone. He performed with the high school band and Elite Choir. He wrote songs and played guitar and was a vocalist and bass guitarist in several bands. He went on to study music in college. He loved going to concerts, karaoke, discovering new music and turning people on to music.
Alex was exceptionally dedicated to self-improvement, learning and working hard. In high school he enjoyed working as a “sandwich architect” building sandwiches at Subway. He graduated from Beardstown High School in 2003 and earned his bachelor’s degree in 2007 in Music Performance: Commercial Music and Music/Business at Millikin University in Decatur.
He was a computer whiz, so naturally he worked as an IT student technician. After graduating from college, he began working at Yellowbook/hibu in Effingham, IL, where his tech career advanced from Infrastructure Support Technician to Systems Engineer to Infrastructure Engineer. While in Effingham, he met his wife Cheyenne Meyer. They were married in 2011. Alex and Cheyenne moved to California in 2015. Since then, Alex has lived in the Bay Area and worked at Pharmacyclics (an AbbVie Company) as a Client Systems Architect. A coworker described him as having a presence, demeanor and energy that everyone adored, the constant drive to source solutions and the “swagger, confidence and persona that complimented his expertise, engineering excellence and people first mindset”. Many others have described what an incredible friend and asset he was to his team.
Alex loved to travel, especially with his family. In addition to the annual Nation vacation throughout the U.S., he also loved to travel internationally. His first experience traveling overseas was exploring his grandmother’s home country of Scotland at age 12. He later traveled to Switzerland, Germany, Scotland (again), England, Bali, Thailand, Panama and Costa Rica. He spent a lot of time outdoors hiking and biking up mountains, ziplining, white-water rafting and recently tried parachuting. His last trip was a weekend in Ka’anapali, Hawaii, in March where he swam with sea turtles and jumped off the Black Rock cliff into the ocean! He was looking forward to an upcoming float trip with family at the Current River and was always on the lookout for his next adventure.
A celebration of life will be held at a later time, and a memorial scholarship will be set up to help students interested in music, arts or technology, especially low-income, LGBTQA+, and minority students. For those wishing to contribute to a cause in Alex’s honor, please donate to the Alex Nation Memorial Scholarship Fund at the First National Bank in Beardstown or Planned Parenthood. In lieu of flowers, please consider doing an act of kindness in his honor for someone less fortunate.
