Obituary of William Harry Bridges

It’s with great sadness that we share our dad’s passing away at age 89. He suffered from a stroke several years ago and dealt with numerous ailments since that time. He was a fighter and would often bounce back against the odds. He passed away peacefully surrounded by family.

Bill was born in Seattle, Washington to William “Scotty” Bridges and Harriet Costello. He was the first of five children: siblings John, Dick, Tom and Ruth (Iversen). The family moved to Portland, Oregon when Bill was young. He and his brothers grew up playing outside often and his favorite sports were baseball, swimming, and football.

Bill graduated from Central Catholic High School and immediately enlisted in the US Air Force. He traveled all over the world tenfold and honorably served his country for 27 years. He took up SCUBA diving and dove whenever and wherever he could. He met his first wife, Lucy, in the Philippines, and they raised five children together: Leslie, Bob, Brenda, Laura and Brian. Bill’s last active-duty assignment was at Beale AFB where he worked on the SR-71 Blackbird. During his work, traveling and raising a family, he found time to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Chapman University. He retired in 1979 and began his second career as a US postal employee. Over the next 23 years, he worked at the Chico post office and the Yuba City post office. It was at this time he met his second wife, Nora Ruth (Forrester), while square dancing. They had good times dancing and traveling. Bill retired from the YC post office in 2002. He and Ruth were married for 9 years before he lost her to cancer. Bill continued to stay active and took courses at the local community college to keep his brain sharp. When his kids asked why he was taking an organic chemistry class, he replied “I’m taking it for fun” – he was 74 years old. He later met and married his third wife, Lillian (Lynch). They also traveled often and looked forward to the Bridges’ annual summer reunion with his brothers and sister in Oregon. Bill and Lillian kept each other company during the Covid “shelter-in-place” time at their retirement home. They were married for 10 years before she passed away in late 2020.

Some of our favorite memories of our dad were going to Sunday mass and having lunch at Casa Lupe, the road trips in the back of the family station wagon to Portland to visit our Grammy, watching Sunday football games where he cheered on the 49ers, Seahawks, and Raiders -he liked them all! We fondly remember traveling to watch the Oakland A’s play at the Colosseum, dive trips to Monterey Bay and camping and boating during summer months at Englebright Lake and Camp Far West.

He was one of the most generous, kindest souls you will ever meet. Even though he was allergic to cats, he was always a good sport when one of us would bring home a stray cat or dog. He was someone you could always count on, and if he said he was going to do something, you knew he meant it. He was a humble man that loved a simple life, always put others before himself and loved his kids and grandkids.

He is survived by his 5 children, 7 grandchildren (Trevor, Savannah, Jake, Addison, Zoe, Bode and Liam), and 3 great grandchildren (Aiden, Dean and Sam). He is preceded in death by his granddaughter, Jade.

A celebration of life is planned for Friday, October 6. The viewing is at 10:00 a.m. at Brusie Funeral Home in Chico. Grave side service to immediately follow at 11:00 a.m. at

Glenn Oaks Cemetery. Bill was a man of faith and an extremely generous man. In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity in Bill’s name.