Alex Jay Henckel, 40, of East Leroy, died Monday, Sept. 30, 2024 in Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan after being diagnosed with lung cancer in early July.

The family will host a memorial service on Sunday, October 13, 2024 at 2:00 P.M. at Southern Oak Kennels, 2546 O Drive South, East Leroy, MI 49051. It will immediately be followed by a celebration of life gathering. Guests are welcome to come for either or both. The entire event will be very casual and guests are invited to wear whatever they would wear to sit around a campfire with Alex. There will be a limited amount of seating. There will be food available, but only water and lemonade for drinks, so guests are invited to bring lawn chairs and their own beverages. The family is being served by Lighthouse Funeral & Cremation in Union City.

Alex was born on November 19, 1983 to Mike and Judi (Pidcock) Henckel of Athens, Michigan and lived in the Athens/East Leroy area his entire life. When he was around seven years old, a brother of one of his friends nicknamed him Skinny, and it stuck. Legions of friends only knew him as Skinny, and many family members eventually only called him Skinny, much to his mother’s chagrin.

Alex graduated from Athens High School in 2002, and attended the Calhoun Area Technology center where he studied welding. He attended one year at Ferris State University where he was enrolled in the Welding Engineering program.

In 2006, Alex met Ashley Doty who became the love of his life. They married on June 16, 2017. They were blessed with two sons, Landen Jay (8) and Lincoln Joseph (3).

Alex worked at Duncan Aviation for nearly 20 years in the paint department, then moved on to Waco Aviation for two years where he was the paint department manager. In 2022, he left the aviation industry to take a job at Swarthout Excavating that was more in line with how he wanted to live his life and to work for someone for whom he had deep respect and friendship. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of his life because from the first days of his illness until his last day on earth, the Swarthout family loved and supported him as if he was born into their family, both emotionally and financially.

That love and support was echoed by so many family members, friends who are like family, coworkers and community members that it would be impossible to list them all. For his entire life, Alex cultivated friends by the hundreds through just being himself. He was always kind, loving and supportive to everyone he encountered and that spirit, along with his genuine smile, turned acquaintances into friends everywhere he went.

In recent months, as many friends, coworkers and community members have been sharing their memories of Alex with his family, hundreds of them expressed that they intend to live their own lives “just as Skinny did.” With genuine care and concern for others, backed up by actions that showed his love, not just empty words.

Alex’s first love was always his family and friends, but he also had a love of adventure and a passion for living life in the moment. He may have only lived for 40 years, but he packed hundreds of years of life into those short years. In his early years, he was a legend to his siblings, cousins and kids in the neighborhood for always being the gutsy one to jump his bike over any obstacle, snowboard off the roof of the barn into a pile of snow or a million other stunts that terrified his mother and made his dad secretly proud.

He spent many years dedicated to racing motocross and riding nearly every track and trail in lower Michigan. He was a gifted athlete who enjoyed high jumping in track and playing on the golf team. He participated in other sports, but mostly so he could be part of the team, because individual accolades never meant as much to him as being a valued member of any group.

As a child, he grew to love hunting and fishing by going with his dad, grandpa and uncle who shared their love for the outdoors. One of his favorite times of every year was going to the family cabin in the Upper Peninsula for deer camp, which he started doing at age 14. As he grew into a man, he developed a passion for hunting ducks and geese with his “crew” of buddies. He was the self-designated squadron commander and cook, often consulting with his mom to discuss the best way to cook with cast iron in a duck blind.

He was devoted to his entire family, insisting on keeping every family tradition, such as still having Christmas mornings at home with his mom, dad and siblings, plus all of the sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews that were added as our family grew. He loved playing baseball in the backyard on Easter Sunday and watching the Spartans, Tigers, Lions and Red Wings games together, cheering out loud. But his favorite way to spend his time was with his sons and his wife, just loving them deeply and sharing the day.

Alex is survived by his wife Ashley, his sons Landen and Lincoln; parents Mike and Judi Henckel; grandparent Kay Pidcock, Terry and Kevin Henckel; brothers Justin (Ericka) Henckel and Dylan (Megahn) Henckel; sister Kelly (Dan) Manson; parents-in-law Jon and Linda Doty; brothers-in-law Richie (Shanna) Warren, Steven (Jennie) Doty, James (Danni Heddinger) Doty, Wate (Chelsea ) Doty; aunts Sandy (Jeff) Slayton, Connie (Dave) Neill, Colleen (Keith Swank); uncles John (Melissa) Pidcock, Seth (Joanna) Henckel as well as many nieces, nephews and cousins, each of whom was dear to him.

He was preceded in death by his grandpa John “Jack” Pidcock, his grandmother Nancy Henckel Smith and his dogs Marley and Ziggy.

Memorial donations can be sent to the family by Venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/alexhenckelfund?catchAll=u&catchAll=alexhenckelfund or to https://www.givetopeople.org/henckel-fund.html

Floral gifts may be delivered to the Southern Oaks Kennels property between the hours of 7:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. on Saturday and anytime after 7:00 A.M. on Sunday.