They were married 20 years with plans to renew their vows in Hawaii this September.
But that trip is not going to happen now for a San Jose woman and her husband, who was killed Wednesday during the VTA rail yard shooting.
The widow of Alex Fritch is struggling not to fall apart under the weight of grief after losing the love of her life while he was working to provide for his family.
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Fritch, 49, was a creature of habit: He left for work and then returned home at the same time, every day.
So when he did not pull up to the family's home in his loud diesel truck after work on Wednesday and he did not answer the phone when his wife, Terra, called and texted, she had a sinking feeling that one of the VTA workers attacked in the early morning shooting that was all over the news was her husband.
"I just hoped and hoped they had gotten it wrong, they had gotten the wrong person," Terra Fritch said. "They didn't. It was him. And it was horrific."
After a lot of frantic calls to try and figure out if her husband was still alive, Terra found out he was in the emergency room at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and that he was not going to make it.
"I just said, 'I love you, I don't want you to go, but I know you have to, and it's okay, we'll be okay.'" Terra said. "And his heart stopped. And he took a couple of breaths and then he died."
Fritch died in his wife's arms and became the ninth person killed at the hands of an angry, longtime coworker at the railyard.
Alex Fritch was surrounded by his children and other family members who rushed into town to be by his side the second they found out he had been shot.
"Unlike everyone else I got those last 15 hours with him," Terra Fritch said. "No one else got that, and I am so thankful for that."
The widow describes her husband as someone who brought a lot of joy to everyone's life who loved to host a great party around their backyard tiki bar, and who jumped at any opportunity to help someone out.
"I've lost everything - I mean literally," Terra Fritch said. "I have moments of like, I just want to go with him. I don't want to be without him."
Terra Fritch said Alex is far from being just another statistic - he was the love of her life.
"I continue to remember that I need to breathe," she said. "And I continue to remember that my oldest child is graduating from high school next week, and that my husband is not going to be there."
