PORT ANGELES — Nothing can assuage the grief that Betsy Reed Schultz bears this Memorial Day — not even a breakfast with Barack and Michelle Obama.
Although the Port Angeles woman is “profoundly honored” to be invited to the White House for breakfast with the president, the trip is the result of the death of her only son.
Capt. Joseph William Schultz, a decorated Green Beret, was killed along with two members of his Army special forces team May 29, 2011 — the Sunday before Memorial Day — when the Humvee they were riding in was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan’s Wardak province. He was 36.
“Memorial Day last year, I went on an airplane to Dover Air Force base to accept his body,” Schultz said.
“If there’s any doubt that it’s real, there’s no doubt that this really happened as you get to this first anniversary date.
“To me, personally, it feels sadder now than I’ve ever been.”
Betsy Reed Schultz is one of about 100 Gold Star Family members who will be at the White House ceremony today.
After breakfast, the families will board a bus for the short trip to Arlington National Cemetery, where Capt. Schultz was buried with full military honors.
“As we get closer [to the anniversary], it just gets harder,” Betsy said.
Betsy Reed Schultz, 61, took out a newspaper ad thanking the communities of Port Angeles and Sequim for their continued support through her ordeal.
“I don’t know that anyone would know what that support is going to be like until something like this happens,” she said.
“It comes in waves, and it comes in cards and phone calls and emails and flowers..
“The circle gets smaller because people get back to their lives and their activities. It’s not that they’ve forgotten; it’s just that life goes on.”
Schultz said the community support and military response in the past year has been “amazing.”
She is turning her personal tragedy into an opportunity for others suffering the same loss she has had.
She is transforming The Tudor Inn at 1108 S. Oak St. in Port Angeles into the Captain Joseph House. Named for her son, it will be a vacation home for families of fallen soldiers, under the auspices of the Captain Joseph House Foundation.
She hopes to have it running by next year.
A community volunteer, businesswoman and past president of the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, Schultz was one of seven women honored as the Soroptimist of Port Angeles-Jet Set organization’s 2011-2012 Women of Distinction for making a difference in the community.
She found out she was invited to the White House when she checked her email at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
“I’m profoundly honored that I could be a part of this recognition of families who have lost their military person,” Schultz said.
“It’s an opportunity to pay respects to other people, to other families, that have been down the same road. Their loss is every bit as great as mine,” she said.
“If my being there can touch them in some way that is important in their lives because we’re sharing this time, then it’s a good thing.”
Before her arrival in D.C., Schultz was scheduled to spend two days in Fayetteville, N.C., for a special ceremony at the special operations forces headquarters at Fort Bragg to honor the four Green Berets who were killed in the past year.
Joining her at the Green Beret memorial were her brother, Bob Stokes of Port Angeles; her sister, Mary Jo of Auburn; and her mother, Mary of Sonoma, Calif. The four were scheduled to drive to Washington on Saturday to visit Capt. Schultz’s grave at Arlington, where Betsy Reed Schultz has mourned several times in the past year.
Joseph William Schultz grew up in Sacramento, Calif., and Springfield, Ill., and graduated from the University of Oregon with bachelor’s degrees in political science and economics.
He received three medals — the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star — after he died in a blast that killed two other soldiers.
His Chi Psi fraternity brothers helped organize a “Let’s Run for Joe” fundraiser for the Captain Joseph House at the Big Sur International Marathon on the central California coast.
Among the participants in the April 29 event were members of Capt. Schultz’s team in the Green Berets.
“That was an emotional time,” Betsy Reed Schultz said. “The soldiers had not met a lot of Joe’s friends outside of the military.
“It was a healing time for [the Army team], having lost three of their 12 members in one swoop,” Schultz added.
Schultz fought back tears as she looked at a photograph of her son during a Wednesday interview.
“I just really miss him,” Schultz said.
“You can’t put it into words. Words just don’t match the loss.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
