Octave Lynn Bridges

OCTAVE LYNN BRIDGES

Octave Lynn Bridges came into this world on April 11,1916. He was the oldest child and only son of his parents, William Wear and Lenna May White Bridges. Later four sisters, Mary Avanel, Belva, Mla Janet and Phyllis joined him. His family lived in Porterville, where he was born; Snyderville, where they had a dairy of 30+ cows that were hand milked twice a day; Draper, where his father was sexton at the cemetery and he helped to prepare the grave sites. While living there, he attended Jordan High School and played football; and Sugarhouse, where he lived when he married Melba LaRue Green.

Lynn and Melba became acquainted when he came to her parent's home on his motorcycle with his friend Jerry Ennis. Jerry came to visit Melba's sister, Myrl. Lynn worked at Riverton Motor as a mechanic and Melba worked at the Meredith Page store just across the street. They started seeing each other regularly and were married October 19, 1938 in the Salt Lake Temple.

At the time they were married, Lynn was working as a truck driver for Deseret lndustries. He collected items donated for the store and delivered large items that had been purchased. He soon changed jobs and began working at Welfare Square. Among his trip destinations were Mesa Arizona for grapefruit and oranges; Washington, canned fish; Montana, grain; San Francisco and Los Angeles California, oranges and canned goods; and Boise ldaho for produce.

He often took his family with him, which was the case on one trip to Los Angeles. As they were leaving Las Vegas on the way home, it started to snow. When they reached the "Utah Hill" outside of St. George, they came to a halt. There was a bus ahead of them that couldn't make it up the hill and had turned sideways in the road. The passengers in the bus were service men and they had to walk up the hill. Melba, ElRay and Sheldon got out of the truck to walk too. Two of the soldiers came and took the boys by the hand and helped them up the hill.

When a new truck shop was built on Welfare Square, Dad was made foreman and also worked as a mechanic. He was responsible for repairs, maintenance and keeping the trucks ready to be on the road. By this time, the church had opened a coal mine in Orangeville, Utah and trucked coal into Salt Lake City to the LDS Hospital, Welfare Square and regional buildings and the trucks were on the road continually. With this new position, Lynn was able to spend more time with the family.

ln 1955, Lynn changed employment and began working at lnterstate Truck Lines as a truck mechanic where he worked until the time of his death. During this time, he mainly worked afternoon shift leaving his morning hours for custom welding work and building horse trailers. He built a large garage with doors big Octave Lynn Bridges enough to move trailers, trucks and other equipment in and out easily and give him a place to work in bad weather.

Lynn bought a new suburban the first year that Chevrolet had them on the market (around 1950, 51 or 52). He made it pay for itself by hauling seven or eight riders to Salt Lake City to work and back home every day. He kept it in good running condition and it was used for many group trips for years.

Lynn and Melba were associated with several couples that enjoyed doing things as a group. They always traveled in the suburban and as many additional vehicles as necessary. Among those in this group were: Geneva and Henry Page, Deno and Venda Seal, Laurel and Doyle Nokes, Vere and Mary Lou Densley, Ray and Ruth Beck, and Coral and Doug Peisley.

One of their activities was attending many of the temples: Alberta Canada, ldaho Falls, Logan, Manti, Mesa, St. George, Salt Lake and the dedication of the Los Angeles. One time when they went to Manti, the temple was closed but the night watchman took them inside and up the spiral staircase to the top of the temple where they could look out. lt was a memorable occasion.

At General Conference time, members of this group went to Salt Lake City on Saturday evening. The men went to Priesthood Meeting and the women went shopping. After the meeting, they met at Hotel Utah for dinner and had an enjoyable evening. They also attended Stake dances, which were held regularly where Mavis and Orr Hill usually joined them.

Sunday evening after church was a time for the Bridges and Peisley's and sometimes others, to get together in less formal surroundings. Bread, milk and onions were commonly served for a light supper.

The family attended church meetings for several years in the old school house. The old church was torn down with the anticipation of rebuilding, but World War ll began and materials needed to build a new one was not available. Lynn was in the Elder's Quorum Presidency and enjoyed working there with Kay Hamilton and Melvin Gilbert. He was later ordained a Seventy.

Animals were an important part of Lynn's life. He had a spirited sonel mare that he rode one time from East Canyon to his Father-in-laWs (Joseph Green) pasture in Riverton because he didn't have any other way to transport it. Later on at East Canyon, this mare had a colt. ln the fall, the mare was mistaken for a deer and was shot and killed. Lynn took the colt home, bottle fed, and nurtured it. However, one day it came up missing. Lynn scoured the area but it was not found until later in the winter when its remains were discovered where it had been caught in the slew. At one time, he had a roan named Shorty, and later a palamino, that he had at the time of his death. His dog, an lrish Setter, was Octave Lynn Bridges named Old Mick. One day close to the time of hunting season, the dog disappeared. Someone else must have admired him also and picked him up.

Lynn loved being our-doors and enjoyed hunting and fishing. As usual, these sporting trips were done in a group also. Among those sharing these "all male" excursions were Don Harrison, and his sons DeRoyce and Verl, Charlie Green and his son Marlin, Howard Davis and his brother Bob, and Clifton Green. ElRay and Gerald, and later Sheldon, were also privileged to go along when they were old enough to have a license. Each year on the weekend before the opening of deer hunting, the hunter's families went to East Canyon on Uncle LeGrande Bridges ranch to set up camp. Everyone had a picnic and enjoyed being together. Lynn's last deer hunting season of 1959, he stayed at the ranch the whole season, about ten days, and traveled back and forth to Salt Lake each day to work. On one hunting trip when Lynn was still in high school, he wore his football shoes. He shot and wounded a deer, run it down and killed it with his knife. He didn't want to waste another bullet.

For the opening of duck hunting, Lynn, Charlie and Don Ioaded the suburban and traveled to Ogden Bay at Brigham City to try their luck. They were usually successful. Pheasant hunting was done closer to home. They hunted in the Green's pasture in the river bottoms and on the flats between Riverton and Herriman.

Family entertainment was often found at East Canyon reservoir or at Moon Lake. Again Lynn, Charlie and Don were together but these trips included their families as well. Lynn took his boat to East Canyon and they enjoyed fishing, water skiing, and having a picnic. At Moon Lake, the families stayed lor a week, camping in tents and cooking over an open fire. The kids enjoyed the flying squirrels, fishing and being together. ln July 1952, Lynn caught an eight-pound brown trout in Moon Lake. He had his picture in the Deseret News as the captor of the largest fish caught there.

Lynn and Melba lived in a variety of homes during their married life. They started out in a basement apartment in Sugar House. Shortly after that, they moved into the south side of Lynn's parents' home in Sugar House. Mary and Howard Davis lived in the north side of the house. Next they lived in the basement of Charlie and Leah Green's home in Riverton. Sheldon was very young and suffered with hay fever and asthma while they lived there. The doctor advised them to move from the basernent, so they went to Melba's parents where they lived for about two years. One winter they slept in the chicken coop. At night when it was cold, they heated bricks in the oven, wrapped them in towels, and put them inside the covers at the foot of the bed to keep their feet warm. Their next home was on Redwood Road by the show house. They moved to what became known as the Bridges Hotel in 1948. This was a large, old brick house owned by Clifton and Verna Lloyd. The Lloyds and Bridges became good friends during the seven years they lived there. ln 1955, they built a brick horne on Redwood Road in Octave Lynn Bridges

Riverton. This was the first time they had owned their own home and they were very excited about it.

Lynn seemed to have a way of being out of town when his children were born. ElRay was due September 7th but didn't arrive until September 23, 1939. Lynn had been around town waiting for the baby's arrival for several days but on that day he was in Ogden and his mother took Melba to the hospital. Sheldon's birth on September 25, 1942 was much the same. Lynn was out of town. Melba's father escorted her to the hospital when Lynette was born on June 7, 1946. Dad returned from Denver three days later to see his baby girl.

Lynn had a kind heart and treated his Grandfather Octave White, and his inlaws, Joseph and Carrie Green very well. He took them many places with the faily and treated them with respect.

Lynn's kind heart also showed when his grandchildren came along. Many mornings, he took ElRay's daughter, Sherie who was one year old, with him to do some shopping or pick up parts. When William was a newborn, Lynn liked to feed him when he came home from work at 1:30 AM. (ElRay and his family were living with his parents at this time because of a gas explosion in their apartment.) As kind and loving as he was with the two grandchildren that he knew, there is no question that he would have treated his other grandchildren in the same way. ln April of 1960, Lynn had a bad case of the flu and a severe head cold. He developed a terrible headache and visited several doctors trying to get some help. Even though he suffered with the headache, he went to work every afternoon. However, on June 23, 1960, he woke up feeling ill. When he got up, he collapsed on the floor and went into a coma. He was rushed by ambulance to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City. They worked with him but were not able to revive him. He died later that same day at the age of 44. He was buried June 27, 1960 in the Riverton Cemetery.

NOTE: An autopsy showed that Lynn's death was caused by an abscess on the brain that ruptured and sent poison throughout his body.

Written by Ann B. Bridges following an interview with Melba Bridges on April 5, 1999.