Munoz Looks to Keep Husband's Spirit Alive

On election day, Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit) was a bit superstitious. While the Democrats were running sacrificial lamb candidates who had barely campaigned and she was considered a shoe-in to win her first full term, she was still cautious until the votes came in.

Having been appointed to the seat vacated by the March death of her husband, Assemblyman Eric Munoz, she decided to bring a little piece of her husband as she campaigned in the frantic hours before the polls closed.

"I was superstitious and wearing the jewelry he gave me to commorate the special events in our lives," she said.

Munoz continues in several ways to remain connected to her late husband as she starts to move into being a legislator in her own right. She holds his seats on two legislative committees and has taken up several of his bills, and continues to find special ways to remember him outside of the government arena. One includes wearing his wedding ring around her neck with hers.

"I still wear Eric's wedding band on my neck," she said. "Mine fits inside of it. I still feel I carry Eric."

Munoz still remembers the first day she met her husband, Oct. 1, 1976. She was working as an emergency room nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital when her husband came into the ER as a new trauma surgeon on duty.

"The first day I met him, my heart stopped," she said. "He was funny, smart, quick on his feet and nice to nurses."

They worked side by side for three years before he moved to New York and she to Boston. But she soon moved to New York to get her master's degree in nursing and be closer to him.

While Bow Bridge in Central Park, the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center and Tavern on the Green are common spots for engagements in the city, Eric Munoz picked a New York landmark that may be one of the more unconventional spots—the Staten Island Ferry. Mrs. Munoz noted that her husband had a great love of the Statue of Liberty—his parents came to New York from Puerto Rico and Poland—and he loved the views of the statue and the city from the ferry. Plus he was looking for something else.

"He said he wanted to ask me in a place that will never disappear," she said.

It is memories like this that Munoz likes to share with people. While she's moving into her own ground as a legislator, she is also looking to keep her husband's memory alive and make sure people do not forget him and his work as a doctor or legislator.

With the exception of the papers she is working on and a personal item such as her BlackBerry and coffee mug, her private office in Summit looks the same as her husband left it in March. The family photos he placed there are still on the walls, his diplomas are behind the desk and plaques presented to him are on the walls. The nameplate on the front still has his name on it. Munoz said being surrounded by him in her office keeps his spirit with her and helps her as she works in the office.

"I feel that by not giving it up, I won't give him up," she said.

This includes the World War II pictures she banished from their house to the office because she didn't want to look at them. Her husband loved the history of World War II, collecting photos and books, even sneaking away from watching the Super Bowl with the family to catch the latest from the Military Channel.

She continues to display the Norden Bomb Sight that her husband collected from a World War II bomber. Munoz recalled that when they hosted an event for veterans in the house, he proudly made the sight the centerpiece of the evening, including running a constant loop of bomber footage from the Military Channel on the TV.

In the many public appearances she makes, Munoz maintains an upbeat, outgoing atmosphere that shows more of the woman next door than an assemblywoman looking for votes. Behind this though is a widow who is handling the work of forging a new and completely unexpected career for herself, dealing with politicians who question her right to even hold her seat, caring for her five children and dealing with her own grief.

While she noted that her new career has been a help to her in the months since her husband's death, keeping her husband's office intact and memory alive is just one of the ways she is working through her grief.

"I lost my husband suddenly and unexpectedly," she said. "I absolutely loved my husband. It's very hard to let go of someone and you have to do it incremently."

Editor's Note: This is the second of a three part series on Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz.