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esilience 191turned everything upside down,” says Patricia Zell, a longtime closefriend of the couple.Billy and Sue married Indian style in a ceremonial symbol of theircommitment. “That was good enough for us,” Billy says. Crystal oncelikened her relationship with Billy to a peaceful boat ride on the river.Their relationship was somewhat unexpected, Zell says. “Theywere from such dramatically different backgrounds. Their temperamentswere night and day.” Crystal was the only child of Jewishparents who exposed their daughter to every educational opportunity.She earned her law degree at the University of Washingtonand eventually immersed herself in politics. “Having worked withWarren Magnuson and Ralph Johnson, she was more politicallysavvy than Billy,” says Zell. “Billy learned from her.” Zell describesCrystal as “a man’s woman” with off-the-charts intelligence whonever pulled any punches with Billy. She was a voracious reader.Books from every genre were scattered about the house.“I knew Sue when she worked for Maggie,” Bill Wilkerson says,“and then I knew her, of course, when she worked for the state. Bright,go-getter, real, solid—you always knew what Sue thought, very strong,adored Billy. She was agency director for a long time, and very goodat it. She knew healthcare backwards and forwards. She was a neat galand I always liked her. She had people who didn’t like her, but it’sbecause she articulated her position and advocated it.”Tom Keefe once asked Crystal about the difference in age betweenher and Billy: “Billy is twenty years older than you. What do you guystalk about?”“What do you mean what do we talk about?”“You’re from different generations. You probably don’t even listento the same music.”“But Thomas, we’re in love! Music doesn’t matter.”“I used to grind her pretty hard on it,” confesses Keefe, “but shetook it in stride and called me the big brother she never had. Billy andSue had a very special relationship, full of love and laughter. WhenWillie came along, it just got better.”