About My Husband Mike ....................
by Linda Bridgeman

    Mike was the oldest in his family.  I know that his Dad was very talented in the auto body business and taught each of his sons the art of shrinking metal and molding it to make parts you couldn't find anymore.  In those days a lot of cars were made of metal and not aluminum and fiberglass.  Mike helped buy his Dad's business when he was in his late 20s and he and his brothers got the business out of the red.  It's still a huge business today.

     Mike wanted out of the city and took a little cash and an old antique car as his 'share' and came up to Garden Valley to plant his roots.  He bought a small Quonset-hut and made it his business shop.  Called it Bridgeman's General Repair because people didn't always need their cars fixed as much as welding a favorite lawn chair leg or utility box or fix an engine of any size.  But his love, his favorite thing to do, he told me, was to take a totally wrecked automobile and restore it to its original condition, and better.  He has a few cars up in this area that he's done a custom paint job on and they still look great after all these years.  He even customized a fella's car into a dragster.  What he could do with a little metal and his imagination always amazed me.  His son, Dan, is the only one who still uses his Dad's craft daily.  He has a job in Shingle Springs painting, prepping and repairing those dented, wrecked autos.

     Mike had a love for the Grand Canyon.  He took three, I think, trips down that mighty river on rafting trips.  He wanted me to go to experience the solitude and majesty of the whole canyon trip.  The roar and power of the water and the size of the walls.  It must have been a highlight in his life to have gone there so many times.

     He really loved his family and never gave up on anyone.  He was faithful to call regularly and see what they were doing and just keep in constant touch. When his Mother died it hit him really hard.  Only the fact that he knew she was in heaven and he would see her again, eased the huge emptiness he felt when she passed away.  Who would have guessed that the very next year he would join her.  They were (besides mother/son) 'kindred' spirits.  A bond that goes far beyond the grave.

     I am grateful for the (not enough) years that I was able to spend with Mike.  And to experience having a child with him, even if we were too dang old!!  He gave her (his only daughter) a good solid foundation of confidence and knowing she was loved.  We miss him.  I don't have all the dates of when he came to Garden Valley, I think around 1976.  Or how many times he moved around (I know he did a few times) when he was growing up, but he told me he had a great childhood.  His Dad was firm, but fair and there seemed to be a respect there always for his Dad.  Being one of 6 kids he was really good at being the 'mediator'.  And boy.... did he love to talk.  (Probably why he got the reputation of having his own B T U's {bridgeman time units})  He was always behind on his scheduled projects. But then again, he always had time to give anybody who just needed to talk a while.  He really did have a big soft heart.