Tricia Snell

How she would start in the middle of a conversation when she phoned you… no “Hi Tricia, this is Julie” but something like “What the fuck is happening are you really doing xyz ….” or whatever... And how deeply kind she was, without ostentation, covering all she was doing for you with jokes and crazily placed profanity. I found once, on the shelves at Wieden & Kennedy when I was Exec Dir of Caldera, a book they’d made with Julie witticisms (she’d been Caldera’s Exec Dir before my time); it was gut-splittingly funny, each page startling. That’s what it was to talk with her, startling; she split your head open with her honesty and humour… she had a style that would cut to the fucking chase every time! Then all the support she gave me during the shit-show of my divorce, and how she always understood what I was capable of (recommending me for two jobs over the years), the feeling of comraderie I felt with her as women working in the really very vexing role of nonprofit Executive Director (why does anyone put up with that crazy role!? We did! and for years!!). Laughing our asses off about it made it easier. I met her when I first came to Portland in 1995, and loved her immediately, not supposing all the times I’d spend with her to come. I will always love her, and beyond my feelings of loss, how much she did for children and writers and all of us, how the world will miss her.