Robert Wayne Kahle -- Professional Baseball Player

 

Robert  *Bob” Wayne Kahle was born on November 23, 1915 in Newcastle, Indiana, the son of Edward Joseph Kahle and Clara Scharff Kahle.  His father was a native of Cincinnati and worked for 23 years with the Holthouse Furniture Company.  On February 15, 1941, Bob married Evelyn Beatrice Riley, in the Maywood Catholic Church in Maywood, California.  Evelyn was the daughter of William Roy Riley and Laura Waller Riley.  William Roy was the grandson of Thomas and Peachie Bridges Hixon.  Bob and Evelyn became the parents of three sons, Ronald Howard, James William and Robert Allan, who were all born in Los Angeles, California.

Bob was an outstanding baseball player in high school. After high school, he was given a tryout with the American Association Baseball League. He was sent to the lower minors, where he played for three years before being assigned to the Indianapolis Indians. In 1937, he played well enough to be noticed by the Boston Bees. He spent nine months with the Bees in late 1937 and 1938 but rarely played, not seeing any action his first year, and then being limited to three pinch-hitting appearances and five as a pinch-runner the next season. He was apparently bothered by a sore arm at the time. He was optioned to the Hartford Laurels of the Eastern Baseball League, but he couldn't swing the bat properly and asked to be put on the voluntarily retired list for the remainder of the season in order to regain his health. 

At the end of spring training in 1939, Boston sold Kahle to the Newark Bears, the top farm club of the New York Yankees.   He was in Newark for a month, but failed to make a good enough impression to stick, and this time the Bees sold him to the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League for $7,500. There, he was installed as the regular third baseman. He would become a star in the PCL, being named team MVP in 1940. The Philadelphia Athletics team wanted to purchase him after the 1940 season, but the price asked by Hollywood Stars - $ 15,000 - was deemed too steep. In 1941, Kahle had a 29-game hitting streak for the Stars.

In 1942, he left his professional baseball career and enlisted in the US Navy, Bob never saw any action in World War II, but was stationed at various naval bases on the Pacific coast where he played on the local baseball service teams.  In 1946, he returned to the Hollywood Stars, but was soon traded to the Portland Beavers where he was their third baseman for the remainder of 1946. In 1947, he was sent down to the Southern Association League to play for the Little Rock Travelers. He retired from baseball at the end of the season and returned to Hollywood, California where he worked as a set painter in the Burbank Studios for the next 33 years. He did keep a connection with baseball, becoming the founding organizer the Little League in the Westchester section of Los Angeles. 

Bob died on December 16, 1988 at the age of 73 in Los Angeles.  He was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.  His wife, Evelyn, died on October 15, 2006 in Los Angeles and was buried beside him.

Tombstone of Robert Wayne Kahle

LINEAGE:  (Robert Wayne Kahle was the husband of Evelyn Beatrice Riley.  Evelyn was the daughter of William Roy and Laura Waller Riley, granddaughter of William Sylvester and Mary Hixon Riley and great-granddaughter of Thomas W. and Peachie Elizabeth Bridges Hixon. Peachie was the first child of Orren Dates and Mary Elizabeth Hixon Bridges.  Orren was the first child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Hilda Agnes Bridges -- Elementary School Teacher

 

Hilda Agnes Bridges was born December 9, 1910 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the eighth of eleven children of John Trice Bridges and Maggie Cunningham Bridges. She attended the one room Maple Grove School through the eighth grade. After she completed the eighth grade, she attended Cadiz High School where she graduated as the salutatorian of the 1930 class.

Hilda became an elementary school teacher and taught in the Trigg County School System for thirty-nine years.  Her first teaching position began in the summer of 1930 in the Lower Donaldson School, a one-room school.  Later she taught in two other one-room schools—Maple Grove School and Upper Donaldson School.  In 1940 she began teaching the third grade at the Cadiz Graded School.  In 1948, she obtained a BS degree from Murray State College (now Murray State University).  Hilda continued to teach in the third grade at the Trigg Elementary School and McUpton School until her retirement in 1971.

“Miss Bridges” was the third grade teacher for many Trigg County students.  She was very artistic and shared that ability with her students. This author’s most vivid memory of “Miss Bridges” was that every day after lunch, she read a chapter from the book, “The Wizard of Oz” thereby introducing this classic story to her students long before it became available for its numerous television and video viewings.

Hilda never married but after her retirement she became a constant baby sitter for her three great-nephews when they were not in school.  She would constantly care for them from cooking their lunch to taking them swimming in the nearby creek.

On April 8, 1986, two years after her death, the Hilda Bridges Scholarship Fund was officially established.  It was the first scholarship to be established under the Trigg County Public School’s Educational Foundation.

Hilda died on February 12, 1984 and twenty four school teachers served as honorary pallbearers at her funeral.  She was buried in the Drury Bridges Cemetery in the Maple Grove Community of Trigg County near her home place where she had lived all of her life.

Hilda A. Bridges Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Hilda Agnes Bridges was the daughter of John Trice and Maggie Dora Cunningham Bridges and the granddaughter of Cullen T. and Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William Bridges and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Burnett Finley -- Soil and Water Conservationist

 

Burnett and Myrtle Finley

Burnett Finley was born on December 6, 1890 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the son of William Monroe “Billy” Finley and Alpha Marcus “Alphy” Cunningham Finley.  Burnett grew up in Trigg County and was a lifelong farmer in the county’s Maple Grove Community.

On June 15, 1919, he married Myrtle Mable Cunningham, the daughter of Elmer Elsworth “Ell” Cunningham and Rosa Lee Bridges Cunningham.  They were the parents of six children, of which two died in childhood with the other four growing up and becoming productive members of the community.

Burnett was always concerned about saving the land and worked with the local office of the USDA Soil Conservation Service in the effort to solve soil and water problems on local farms.  He cooperated in programs aimed at saving and enriching the farmland.

In the early 1960s as Burnett began contemplating his retirement from the farm, he began converting his cropland to pine trees. By 1964 his entire 75 acre farm except the tobacco land was was covered with grass and the pine trees.   A bundle of energy and a true conservationist, Burnett was surprised and proud of the remarkable growth of his pine plantation.  The pines covered the bare gullied hillsides with a carpet of pine needles and growing over 25 feet in the air, the pines showed the proper care and treatment given by Burnett over the earlier years. He also created a small fish pond and some wildlife food cover plantings to ensure some fishing and hunting near his home.  The Soil Conservation Service helped Finley with his soil and water conservations plans. He received cost sharing and other assistance from the service in converting most of the farm from row crops to woodland, grass and wildlife.  Burnett was proud as he entered retirement that his land was well covered and protected and would be able to produce for his grandchildren and future generations.

An interesting article about Burnett Finley and another Trigg County farmer, Hill Wills, was reported in the Lexington Herald Leader on September 24, 1929:   

REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE IN CADIZ — There is a most remarkable sameness in the records of two young farmers of Trigg county They are Burnett Finley near Cadiz and Hill Wills of the County Both left home the same day to enter service during the World War and spent some time overseas They returned on different transports but both were discharged the same day Returning home they were united In marriage on the same day and the first child to bless each home was born the same day Death took the first born at the age of 20 months on the same day and each family now has two children dead and three living.

Burnett Finley died on July 12, 1972 and was buried in the Allen Cemetery in Trigg County, KY.  His wife, Myrtle died on August 14, 1985 and was buried beside him.

Burnett Finley

Tombstone of Burnett and Myrtle Finley

LINEAGE:  (Burnett Finley was the husband of Myrtle Mable Cunningham. Myrtle was the daughter of Elmer Elsworth “Ell” and Rosa Lee Bridges Cunningham and the granddaughter of Cullen T. and Martha Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Garland Drewry Bridges, Jr. -- Professional Soldier

 

Garland Drewry Bridges, Jr., or G. D. as he was known was born on July 22, 1924 in the Maple Grove Community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was one of six children born to Garland Drew and Annie Lurline Thomas Bridges.

In 1942 when Garland registered for the draft, he was working for the American Elevator and Machine Co. in Louisville, Kentucky, but gave his place of residence as Route 1, in Cadiz.  On January 25, 1944, he was inducted into the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet.  However, he and 300 other cadets’ flight training were eliminated on February 19, 1944. He was then assigned to the Radar Repair School as a private.  He completed the B-29 Radar School training in May 1945.  His early active duty came to a close when he was discharged in May 1946 as a corporal in the Army Air Corps reserves.

Following his discharge, Garland moved to Texas where he met Johnnye Faye Buth, the daughter of John and Neta Word Buth of Lockney, Texas. Garland and Johnnye were married on August 4, 1946, a marriage that lasted 62 years. In September 1946, Garland enrolled at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.  He graduated in 1949 with a BS degree in Education and a USAF commission in the reserves.  He went on to earn his masters degree in Education in 1950.  Then the Korean War began and in June 1950, Garland started his air force career.

In September of 1964, Garland and his family were living in Tripoli, Libya where he was serving at Wheelus Air Base.  He was the Director of Personnel when the Arab-Israeli Six Day War occurred.  He was responsible for getting all the military families and other Americans who lived in the Tripoli area safely into Wheelus Air Base.  The base was being threatened by homemade bombs being thrown over the air base fence and Russian fighter planes began appearing in the area.  Garland was then responsible for evacuating over 6,000 individuals, mostly women and children, out of Libya by air.  All this urgent activity took place in less than ten days.

Later in his career, in May of 1972, Garland was assigned to the Air Base in Danang, Vietnam.  Danang was known as “Rocket City” as Russian rockets frequently rained down upon the base.  As Director of Personnel, he served at the air base for ten months.

Lieutenant Colonel Garland Bridges retired from the United States Air Force on June 30, 1975 after serving his country for over 31 years.  His service included serving in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. His military decorations included two Meritorious Service Medals and a Bronze Star.

After retirement, Garland and his family moved to Austin, Texas where he began a second career as a life insurance salesman for the following 15 years.  In 2003, Garland and Johnnye moved to a retirement community in Temple, Texas. In 2006, they moved to Odessa, Texas to be closer to their family.

Garland died on August 8, 2008 in Odessa, Texas at the age of 84.  He was buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.  His wife Johnnye died on June 24, 2016 in Odessa and was buried alongside him in San Antonio.

Tombstone of Garland D. Bridges, Jr.

LINEAGE:  (Garland Drewry Bridges, Jr. was the son of Garland Drewry and Annie Lurline Thomas Bridges, and the grandson of Drewry and Nannie Gresham Bridges. Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)