Amanda Fritz in 2014.
Michael Clapp / OPB
Dr. Steven Fritz died in a traffic collision in Salem on September 24th, 2014. Almost a year after her husband’s death, Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz talked to OPB’s John Sepulvado about life after – and before – the crash.
This is an edited and condensed transcript of that conversation.
John Sepulvado: What was your husband like when he was young? When you met him? .
Amanda Fritz: I met him when he was 16. We were both working at a Salvation Army children's camp in New Jersey.
The first summer when we were dating, we didn’t have CDs, of course, we had a tape player. They didn’t give you the lyrics to the songs, and there wasn’t the Internet. So we listened to a Yes album and we would play it and then play it back again so we could write out all of the words to the songs on this album by Yes.
And actually, when we had the memorial service at the state hospital, coincidentally, the band there chose to play this Yes song, which was the one that we had transcribed back at the camp in New Jersey.
Sepulvado: You two remained married for such a long time. You had children, you built a family. How are you getting through his death?
Fritz: It's really challenging. I'm very glad I have adult children, so they are able to help me out. I know that others are in an even worse spot than I have been in, because they don't necessarily have life insurance and they have younger children.
I don’t think people really understand how political spouses -- how very challenging it is. People approach our spouses, our partners, and ask them to get appointments with us. "Could you please tell her such and such?" It’s very, very difficult to manage without having that co – that coworker, in the work.
Sepulvado: Is it hard talking about him?
Fritz: No, it's -- I love to honor his memory. It's brought a smile to my face talking about him.
It’s not something you bring up every day in the office. Sometimes people will come up to me and say, "I hate to bring this up." I’m thinking about it all the time anyway, so it’s not really a problem that you’re bringing it up and I appreciate that you're expressing your support.
I mostly miss being able to talk to him.
He wasn’t into politics. He would give me the man on the street view of politics, because he would read something in the paper to and wonder, "Is that what actually happened?" He would say, "Somebody told me about this. Is that what’s happening? That’s of concern, right?"
If something came to Steve's awareness, then I was pretty sure I should probably get on it be cause a lot of people were probably talking about it, or else it was something that he had noticed that I should get on before anyone else noticed.
Sepulvado: He was your barometer.
Fritz: Yes, that's a good way to think about it. That's the part that I am still missing, one of the things that I miss most is not having that barometer.
Sepulvado: Comissioner Fritz thank you so much for joining us.
Fritz: You let me talk about my sweetie. I really appreciate that.
