Bluford Clyde Bridges -- Centenarian

 

Bluford Clyde Bridges

Bluford Clyde Bridges was born on February 6, 1891 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the oldest of five children of Alfred Franklin Bridges and Minnie Lancaster Bridges.  His father had an earlier marriage to Ella Turner who had provided Bluford with three half siblings.  Alfred was a farmer and both he and Minnie were native Trigg Countians.

Bluford’s siblings were Alfred Claud Bridges, born in 1895 and married Ethelene Bonner; William Hopson “Willie” Bridges, born in 1899 and married Sarah Ellen McCoy; Ambie Lois Bridges, born in 1900 and married Amos Ira Guier and Denny Lee Bridges, born in 1901 and married Margaret Nolan.  Bluford’s half siblings were Charlotte “Lottie” Bridges, born in 1883 and married Harry Winfield Lancaster; John Madison “Matt” Bridges, born in 1884 and married Huewell Tandy Lawrence and Annie Emmaline Bridges, born in 1888 and married William Albert Ford.

Bluford grew up on his father’s farm and became a farmer and lived on a farm in the Linton community of Trigg County for his entire life.

On December 27, 1912 when Bluford was 21 years old, he married Birdie Hopson Calhoun in Stewart County, Tennessee.  Birdie was 18 at the time of their marriage.  She was born in Trigg County and was the daughter of Arthur Griffin Calhoun and Nancy Augusta Herndon Calhoun, both native Trigg Countians.

In 1991 when Bluford reached the age of 100, he was interviewed about becoming a Centenarian. Once a week at that age he would ride a community services bus, usually on a Thursday, to the Senior Citizen Kitchen in Cadiz.  There he would talk to his friends, eat a hot meal and smoke his cigarettes.  When told that smoking was not good for him, he said, “They ain't, I don't smoke as much as some people."  Smoking was a habit that Bluford had had for 84 years at the time.  Bluford recalled living without electricity. The only way he had to travel was to walk or ride one of his good saddle horses. "I can recollect when I wore dresses, too," he said.  "I was six or seven years old and as far as I know all boys wore dresses then."  Bluford talked about his fox hounds and fox hunting expeditions. “I fox hunted a long time.  I'd blow my horn.  Stay out all night.  Go to work the next day,” he said. Fox hunting has apparently been one of his greatest pleasures in life. "I love to hear them dogs run about as good as I do anything," he said.  When asked if he had any advice on how to live to be 100, he didn’t have much to say, but he did have a message for young people. "Be honest," he said.

Bluford and Nancy were the parents of five children, Eda Glenn Bridges, born in 1913 and died in 1915 at the age of 1 ½ years old; Obie Clyde Bridges, born in 1916 and married Mary Jane Crews; Arlie Amos Bridges, born in 1918 and married Lois Alene Dunning; Robert Garnett Bridges, born in 1921 and married Macy Louis Oakley and Annie Grace Bridges, born in 1929 and died in 1930 at the age of one month.

Bluford died on March 3, 1993 in Cadiz, Kentucky at the age of 102.  He was the oldest resident of Trigg County at the time of his death. He was buried in the Green Hill Memorial Gardens in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  Birdie died on June 3, 1964 in Cadiz at the age of 67.  She was buried in the Green Hill Memorial Gardens.

Bluford, age 92,  and friend L. L Pope, age 95, relax on the benches in front of the Trigg County Courthouse in Cadiz, Kentucky

Bluford and Birdie Bridges tombstone

LINEAGE: (Bluford Clyde Bridges was the son of Alfred Franklin and Minnie Lancaster Bridges.  Alfred was the fourth child of Simco N. and Emeline Martin Bridges.  Simco was the third child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)