Remembering my friend Martha Zoller, who always returned the call

I met Martha Zoller more than 25 years ago when she was just starting her run as the host of her own radio show on WDUN in Gainesville, and I was working as communications director for U.S. Sen. Max Cleland. Unlike most conservative hosts, Martha invited Democrats in for interviews. And unlike most Democrats, Cleland said yes to the interviews.

Did it always go smoothly? It did not. Cleland didn’t sugarcoat anything, and as anyone can tell you, neither did Martha. But he kept going back because, underneath the diverging politics, were two people who cared deeply about the state, cared deeply about the country and respected the role the other was playing.

“Patricia’s a liberal, but we’re still friends,” Martha would tell people with a smile when she introduced me. I corrected her to say I was not actually a liberal, but yes, we were definitely friends. “Whatever you say!” she laughed in return. But the truth is, it didn’t really matter to Martha. We were real friends, and she would often end calls or conversations telling me so.

We stayed close long after I left Capitol Hill and stopped being the person people needed to call to book an interview with Cleland. You can’t imagine how many people I never heard from again after I lost that small bit of Washington status. But Martha always called back.

I eventually went into journalism myself. We’d make time to catch up at national GOP conventions, when she was visiting Washington, or when I just needed advice about how a woman can survive it in politics or journalism and have a family at the same time. She had done both. Watching her navigate the juggling act told me maybe I could, too.

Martha had several mini-careers in the middle of her radio run, always advancing the conservative issues that she cared about. I called her to ask about her moves each time, and she always called back.

She once ran for Congress as a Republican, learning firsthand that running as a woman sometimes meant campaigning twice as hard for half the results — no matter which party you’re in. She also worked as an adviser to former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in Georgia. She’d supported Perdue, of course, but the flexibility also let her be a caregiver to family members who needed her at the time.

Credit: Greg Bluestein

Credit: Greg Bluestein

In her spare time (and when would she have spare time?), Martha also wrote a book, served on boards, joined the “Georgia Gang” and popped up everywhere from Fox News to The New York Times when they were looking for an expert on Georgia Republicans who wasn’t going to spin them. When they called, she called back.

I saw Martha for the last time on Friday when my colleague Greg Bluestein and I went to Gainesville to be on her show for what we knew would be the last time after she announced she was stepping away from the grind of daily radio. We talked about the roller coaster that is Georgia politics and told her we couldn’t imagine it without her. She’d still be involved, she assured us, just not every day.

Martha decided to retire from her show following a health scare. She emerged from it looking healthy and strong but ready to spend her time doing the things she wanted, with the people she loved. In the end, she needed more time than she had.

When I heard that Martha had died, I had an immediate thought about everything she had taught me through her example. It had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with being a good person. Show up for your family. Give back to your community. Check in on your friends. And always, always return the call.