CELEBRATION, Fla. — Days after getting the news of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing, Pat Schroeder says the shock of losing such a mighty woman and legal giant still hasn't quite hit her.  

Ginsburg died Friday at age 87 from pancreatic cancer.

“She’s been able to will herself through almost everything, and we all really thought she would make this,” said Schroeder, a retired Congresswoman and longtime friend and colleague of Ginsburg who now lives in the Central Florida community of Celebration.

As the nation remembered the Supreme Court justice and feminist icon in Washington on Wednesday, Schroeder, too remembered their friendship and their time spent together. 

“What a loss it is. She was such a pillar and so strong, just amazing,” Schroeder said. 

Serving the state of Colorado in Congress for more than 20 years, Schroeder had heard of Ginsburg’s work in gender equality even before they met.

“When (President Bill) Clinton put her on the Supreme Court, then I really got to know her because she’s just terrific," Schroeder said. "And I was then the dean and head of the women’s caucus so we worked together on a lot of issues. She would either come to my office or, mainly, I would go to hers."

"My very first meeting going over to hers, when she was at the Supreme Court, I walked in and I asked the guard, 'How do I get to her office'? And he was really, really nasty," Schroeder said. "And I said, ‘Excuse me, what is the matter? Don't you like the justice?’ He said, 'Well, she had a birthday party here for one of her grandchildren!' And they'd never had a birthday party for grandchildren in the Supreme Court. And I thought, now I really like her."

Schroeder and Ginsburg used to eat cookies in the Supreme Court justice’s office while working together on issues. Schroeder said Ginsburg, top of her class in law school, was an incredibly hard worker, bright, and shy, though she loved being around people.

Their husbands became fast friends, jokingly forming the “Dennis Thatcher Society.”

“They said the only people who could be in this group were men whose wives had a more prominent position than they did. They said that their motto was “Yes, dear,” and they only ate where they could sign their wife’s name to the bill,” Schroeder said.

Over the years, Ginsburg became as well-known for her fiery dissents as for her gender-equality work, leading to her nickname, “Notorious RBG,” a reference to the rapper and the star power that Ginsburg herself had garnered.

Ginsburg and Schroeder stayed in touch, even after Schroeder left Washington.

“The big tragedy, one of the things that makes me so sad, is we had planned to get together in February. My husband and I had our tickets; we were all ready to go, and that’s the first time she went into the hospital this year. And of course, then the rescheduling didn't happen because of COVID, and all of our lives changed," Schroeder said.

"It's very sad. It's been a long time, and I feel very bad that didn't happen."

Despite Ginsburg's long battle with cancer, news of her death came as a shock to Schroeder and many who knew Ginsburg's fighting spirit.

“She’ll be a huge loss," Schroeder said. "A huge loss."

Still, she said she knows Ginsburg’s legacy will live on, continuing to push women and the nation forward for years to come.

“I have granddaughters, and I want them to see there may be barriers in front of them, but they, too, can get over them,” Schroeder said.