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In Memoriam: Amy (Eggertsen) Bruce
In Memoriam
Amy
(Eggertsen) Bruce
(August 18, 2007)
I was very saddened yesterday to learn of the recent
passing of an old friend, Amy Bruce. When I knew her in the
1990s, she was Amy Eggertsen. Amy was an architect with my firm, Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB), and worked on the Westside Light Rail project in Portland, Oregon.
I met her when she worked in the project office, but
a few years later in 1994, she joined the PB office in downtown Portland, where I was
located.
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Amy was one of the
kindest persons I've ever known and
I always liked being around her, though she and I were just friends. She was cheerful,
intelligent, creative, thoughtful,
mature beyond her years, and I never heard her say anything bad about
anyone. Her smile lit up a room, she was always positive and was
nice to everyone. Her cheerfulness was not only contagious but also inspiring, and from
her, I learned to be kinder and more compassionate.
Simply put, Amy was a
bundle of sunshine and she
touched the heart of every person she knew.
Occasionally,
Amy and I had lunch in
downtown Portland and we'd usually talk about traveling or
our mutual passion for photography. Interestingly, she enjoyed
riding motorcycles, which always intrigued me since she was such a sensitive,
quiet and gentle person. She had a spirit of adventure and was
unlike anyone I'd ever met.
Amy decided to leave PB
in late 1995 and I was sorry to see her go. She joined Otak, a
consulting firm in nearby
Lake Oswego, Oregon, and we
lost touch. Last summer, after my world travels and my work in
Seattle, I moved back to Oregon and joined Otak. I hoped that Amy was
still there, but I learned that she had moved on. I didn't know where
she was, but it was nice to think that we would probably cross paths again
someday. Sadly,
though, we never did.
Although I haven't seen
Amy since 1995, her
passing deeply saddened me, a testament to what a special person she
was. I
was happy to learn, though, that
during these past 12 years, she married a good man and had a
beautiful daughter. As my way of commemorating the life of this
kind and generous person, I'm posting a few
pictures of Amy on this page, which I took at the 1993 Parsons
Brinckerhoff summer picnic.
I’ll
never see her wonderful smile again, but it will live on forever in my heart. I was very fortunate to know Amy, and I will greatly miss her.
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