Frederick J. Bridger
1950-2021
Frederick John
Bridger passed away peacefully on December 21, 2021 at the Notre Dame
Bay Memorial Health Centre in Twillingate, NL. Fred was
born at home in Twillingate on
November 3, 1950 as the youngest member of the “Bridger
Triplets.“ The boys
were often touted as the first triplet born in
Newfoundland after the
Province joined Canada and
the costs to feed them as babies
was made easier with a generous
donation of a year’s supply of Carnation Milk by E.J.
Linfield’s Ltd. – a prominent business
in Twillingate at
that time. Fred moved
from Twillingate to
complete his college education and for a short period of time to work
but later returned to raise his family and work at
the Twillingate Hospital as a Power
Engineer.
Fred was a natural
giver with many hours of
volunteerism contributed to various
organizations in the community
over his life. This time was
spent as a Town Councillor for
one term, years as a leader within the local Boy
Scouts troop, and later as a
founding member of the Twillingate Islands Tourism Association (TITA) where he helped
to push for building the viewing deck on Long
Point and refurbishing the Long Point
Lighthouse for tourism
use.
The Twillingate Sun newspaper later followed up on
the Bridger Triplet progress and reported that Fred was the first to
take steps to walk despite being the
last to be born. People who knew Fred will not be
surprised by this as he walked and hiked for miles and
miles and miles all over the Twillingate Islands and
throughout Newfoundland! His hiking offered him access to
tremendous coastal vistas
from hard to get
to points on the rugged
coastline that he was determined to make more
readily accessible to all tourists
visiting Twillingate. This was
his inspiration while
working with like-minded friends to create many
of the first cuts
for Twillingate coastal hiking
trails.
Fred had a very
approachable personality as he greeted everyone with a
smile while welcoming all visitors to learn more
about Twillingate and
Newfoundland & Labrador. Physical fitness was very important
to him as displayed by earning a black belt in Shotokan karate but
actually doing so for the
exercise, playing basketball every week with the
local high school team until COVID-19 restrictions stopped this
activity, and completing 100
sit-ups per day right up to this past
summer. Fred enjoyed giving and receiving a good practical
joke along with frequent food and water fights at supper every time
these would occur. He never wanted to
leave this world out of fear of
missing any new discoveries in science,
technology or space research.
Fred
is mourned with fond
memories by his wife Mildred (nee
Keats) and sons Christopher
(Amber and grandchildren
Alexa and Cole) and Chad (Sandy and grandson
Clancy), sister Dora (Lloyd), brothers Ellis (Vera), Alfred (Yvonne) and
Clarence (predeceased by Audrey), cousin Joan
(Jack) who treated him as a brother, and nearly
100 cousins, in-laws, nephews
and nieces many
with their own families, and a large group of
friends. He was predeceased
by his parents, Raymond and Ida (nee
Leyte), step father
Elmo Stockley, and brother
Rex (Marilyn).
In lieu of
flowers, the family is suggesting donations to either
the Twillingate Hospital Pond Committee or Rock
Cut Twillingate Trails c/o the Town
of Twillingate in
remembrance of Fred given his passion for hiking and walking on
both Twillingate Islands.
In
light of the current Covid-19 pandemic, the health and safety of our
families and our community continues to be our highest priority. At
this time, keeping with Fred’s wishes cremation has taken place; a
celebration of life will be planed at a later
date.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Frederick J Bridger 19502021..
Death notice for the town of: Twillingate, Province: T-N