A month after their first date, Chandler Patterson sent his girlfriend, Alyssa Stroner, a girl who dreamed of writing a book, a text that read: “Alyssa Patterson is really beautiful. It looks like an author name. It would be pretty on the front of a book.”
A couple years later — after an engagement, wedding vows, and a tragic death — the name Alyssa Patterson stretches across the cover of a paperback titled “Until Heaven Parts Us.” Inside is a dedication page that reads “To Chandler, my precious late husband. May the generations know how well I was loved by you.”
Three weeks after their wedding, on June 26, 2021, Chandler Patterson died in a boating accident on Lake Tugalo. He was struck by the vessel; his body found the following day. Alyssa Patterson, 25, became a widow just three short weeks after her wedding day. Her firefighter husband with the blue eyes and blond hair, with the arms that made her feel safe and loved, with the larger-than-life personality, was gone, along with so many dreams.
“Everyone was, and still is, grieving Chandler, but I felt like I was also grieving Alyssa,” said Taylor Arseneau, a close friend of Alyssa Patterson’s. “She was completely different, blank, hard to read. All I was sure of was that one day she would write a book about him. When we were 12, while I was watching YouTube videos, Alyssa was writing poetry, talking about writing books when she grew up.”
A couple months after Chandler died, Patterson, who works from home as a sales implementation specialist, moved from her newlywed home in Braselton. She and her sister found a house in Sugar Hill that has a chicken coop — an omen, Patterson thought, as she and Chandler dreamed of having chickens.
Patterson clung to her family and Chandler’s as they shared her intense grief, and she joined a support group called Never Alone Widows. As the days passed, thoughts for a book began to percolate.
“I never wanted to write a book just because, I wanted it to come with purpose,” said Patterson. “I’m not saying God made this happen because I wanted to write a book. Not at all. I’ve just prayed that the Lord would give me a story that needed to be shared to ultimately point to him.
“Then my life happened the way it did. I struggled a lot with the thought of writing a book about Chandler and my grief. I spoke with a counselor about it extensively. I didn’t want pity and I didn’t want people to think I was trying to profit off my loss. I wrestled with that for a while, and ultimately concluded that this is my opportunity to share our love story, my grief journey, and honor Chandler.”
Patterson signed up with the Self-Publishing School to walk her through the process of writing a book. She read about their method for a couple weeks then, when she found herself alone over a quiet, snowy weekend in January 2022, she began writing.
“I went to Office Depot and bought huge Post-It notes for my walls, colorful markers, and committed to mapping out a book as the Self-Publishing School had shown me,” said Patterson. “I dedicated an hour a day to the book, first outlining, then writing. I was committed. Some of it was especially hard, like writing about our wedding day. I had to really sit in my grief.”
Patterson completed her first rough draft on Chandler’s birthday, Feb. 17. She continued to hone her words until May when she began working with an editor.
“I felt so much peace when I handed it over to the editor,” said Patterson. “There’s just peace in knowing that everything is written down, the things I learned, my and Chandler’s moments, big and small. It’s always going to be here, it’s all documented.”
Patterson’s 15-chapter book was officially available to purchase via Amazon on Aug. 26. Thanks to guidance from the Self-Publishing School, Patterson crowd-sourced a launch team over the past couple months who helped publicize the book release. The book is a best-seller in the Christian Ministry to Sick & Bereaved category.
“It’s all surreal,” said Patterson. “Losing Chandler, seeing my words printed in a book. It’s hard to believe any of it. Everyone has been so encouraging. The discipline required to write this book and the overwhelming support from people has carried me through the grief.”
One of her most steadfast supporters is Lisa Patterson, Chandler’s mother.
“I’ll never be able to repay her kindness for honoring Chandler the way she has,” said Lisa Patterson. “I haven’t had the energy or strength to do anything like that in my grief. I’m grateful she could. Chandler was so full of life, that boy. He’d be all about this book, fired up and thrilled for Alyssa. He’d be so proud of her.”
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