Rachel Ortega was unafraid of speaking her mind, said those who knew her.
After Ortega’s death in November, Judith Ritschard of Carbondale, a childhood friend, described Ortega as “a sweet, bubbly presence with a passion for music,” and a person who, in her boyfriend’s words, was “full of life and would give someone she didn’t know the shirt off her back.”
She died of unknown causes at her boyfriend’s home on Main Street.
The 34-year-old Aspen native attended scores of Widespread Panic shows, and also enjoyed “The Hunger Games” trilogy, to the point that Ortega broke her Kindle after repeatedly re-reading the books, the friend said.
Ortega also ran “an amazing campaign” to win the treasurer job on a student body council, Ritschard said.
“She was not afraid to be in the spotlight,” she said.
