The Portland Police Bureau has released more information about the fatal crash that happened over the holiday. They say a person was driving a compact car southbound on Southeast Calle Cesar Chavez prior to striking the woman who was walking. As I reported the day before Thanksgiving, the woman was hit and killed somewhere near the intersection of of Cesar Chavez and SE Harrison.
We now know the victim was 87-year-old Grey Wolfe, a revered Portlander who was known by many in our community as a mental health counselor. On her business website, Wolfe said she spent the last 25 years of her life in that practice. Before that she was a school teacher in Baltimore and she was also a restauranteur who co-owned, cooked, and baked at two Portland restaurants — Genoa and Bread and Ink. She also raised three children.
One of her children posted about the tragedy on Bluesky on Friday. “My one-and-only mother was hit & killed by a car on Wednesday,” someone with the username “Ursula” shared. “I am all the adjectives you can imagine: shattered, devastated, bereft. And no hour has passed in the last 48 where I have not felt unbelievably lucky, overwhelmed with gratitude for all the time I got to be her daughter.”
BikePortland reader Lois Leveen lives in the area and knows the Wolfe family. She has learned that Wolfe was taking her daily walk up Mt. Tabor when she was hit. The collision happened a mere two blocks from her home on streets she knew well. Here’s more from Leveen:
“Grey was a therapist, an activist, and an inspiration and support to many Portlanders over the decades. She would post activist posters on fence outside her office so people passing by on the sidewalk could learn from their messages.”
Wolfe’s death should also send a message to city leaders: it’s long overdue for traffic to be calmed on Calle Cesar Chavez. Portland has lost too many people because of its car-centric design and tragedies like this will continue until people are forced to drive more slowly.
Thanks for reading.
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