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<< Previous   of   Next >> Darren Breen / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Marilyn Dahl of Lakewood shows the cross-stitched portrait she made of Navy Chief Petty Officer Patrick Wade, who was killed in Iraq. Dahl gave the portrait to Wade's widow in Oak Harbor. Darren Breen / The Herald  (click to enlarge) A close-up view shows details in the cross-stitched portrait Marilyn Dahl made of Chief Petty Officer Patrick Wade.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Patrick L. Wade   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, March 10, 2008 Whidbey sailor's supreme sacrifice in Iraq inspires Lakewood stitcher By Jim Haley Herald Writer LAKEWOOD -- Marilyn Dahl was touched by the photo in the newspaper. The image was of a handsome man in his Navy chief's dress uniform. There was an American flag in the background. On his chest were the multicolored ribbons he'd earned. Patrick Wade, 38, had a family. He served his country. He was killed in Iraq in July. Dahl never met Wade, and knew him only from what she read in a news account of how he and a companion died when a bomb exploded. She read how his sacrifice shook a tight-knit group of sailors based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Without asking, Dahl began preparations to spend countless hours doing a cross-stitch portrait of Wade using the photo she had seen in the newspaper. On Thursday, after months of toil and a couple hundred dollars in out-of-pocket expenses, the Lakewood-area woman presented the framed portrait to Wade's widow, Keri Wade of Oak Harbor. "I was thoroughly impressed," said Wade, a mother of two. "I was almost dumbstruck by the complexity of the work and how inspiring it was. My first reaction was probably just being struck how incredible it was." Dahl, 69, said she loved doing the work. She previously did cross-stitch portraits of a grandson and her mother. "When I saw his picture, I just visualized it as being in the cross stitch," said Dahl. "I thought it would be a good idea to locate (the sailor's) family and figure out how to get it to them." She had some help with locating and with getting a glossy picture of the fallen sailor that was used to make a pattern. Whidbey Island Naval Air Station public affairs specialist Kim Martin helped get Dahl a digital version of the same photo that was published in the paper. The sailor's unit, Explosive Ordnance Diposal Mobile Unit 11, helped arrange Thursday's meeting. Dahl sent the photo off to a man she knew in Gibsons, B.C. The man made a pattern, which Dahl used to start the cross-stitch work in mid-September. She worked more than 130 days on the piece, finishing it in late January. Dahl said she worked on it up to two hours a night. When it was finished, she sent the portrait out to be framed. Dahl said she didn't mind the cost or the effort. "It was my winter project and I just enjoy doing it," she said. "I have to have something to do in the evenings rather than watching TV on those dark winter nights." The intricacies of the different colors in the flags and the ribbons were a challenge Dahl liked. Before the presentation in Oak Harbor, Dahl said she hoped Wade would not be upset by a stranger acting as she did. "It just makes it a little more enjoyable doing it for somebody who appreciates it," Dahl said. She need not have worried. Wade, whose children are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2, said she's found that a lot of people wanted to honor her husband. "I got lots of tributes to Patrick by people who saw his story, were touched and wanted do something for his sacrifice," Wade said. Among the items presented were charcoal drawings and an etching in granite. "I definitely know how important our service people are to our country and how people appreciated what we are doing," said Wade, who plans to remain in Oak Harbor. "It was finally nice to meet somebody and get to talk with them about what they have done. Most of the stuff just comes in the mail." The cross-stitch portrait will hang on a wall with flags and a shadowbox she received after her husband's death. It will become part of a memorial to the sailor. Her children don't fully comprehend the loss of their dad, she said. The memorial will help. "It helps to know when they look at this stuff that they will know other people felt the same way about their dad that we do." Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or jhaley@heraldnet.com.

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