Charles H. Bridges

Sterling husband, loving father and grandfather, and fly fisherman/fly-tyer par excellence, Charles H. Bridges passed on in St Joseph’s Hospital in Bryan on Wednesday, January 12, 2012. Visitation will be at Memorial Funeral Chapel in College Station on Sunday, January 15 from 4 - 7 PM. A Memorial Service will be held at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, College Station. Charles was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on February 23, 1921. He lived in Webster, Texas for his early life and spent his last two years of high school in Jasper attending Jasper High School. He attended Texas A&M University and graduated in 1945 with a degree in veterinary medicine. He practiced veterinary medicine in Brenham, Texas for 4 ½ years. In 1949, he left practice to attend LSU to do graduate studies in Veterinary Microbiology. In 1951, he was called back in service as the base veterinarian at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. In 1954, he returned to Texas A&M to continue his graduate work at A&M and Walter Reed Armed Force Institute of Pathology receiving his Ph.D. in Veterinary Pathology in 1957. He was certified by examination as a veterinary pathologist by the American College of Veterinary Pathology in 1956.

Dr. Bridges was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, (Inactive), Medical I Administration US Army, 1942, and was a private US Army May 1943 – May 1944. He was a Captain in the USAF Veterinary Service (1951- 1953) and retired Major USAF Reserve Biomedical Sciences Corp, 1968.

Dr. Bridges was the Professor and Head of the Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M, from 1960 -1978. He retired as Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University and Texas A&M Experiment Station in 1986. He was also an Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Baylor University College of Medicine, Houston, Texas from 1978 -1995 and Professor of Comparative Pathology, Institute of Comparative Medicine, TAMU 1976-1979. He was past president of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and a member of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association and the International Academy of Pathology (Emeritus). He was a member of Phi Zeta, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi and Gamma Sigma Delta. He was a Morris Animal Foundation Fellow. His research interests included mycotic diseases, neuropathology, toxicologic pathology and inherited diseases.

He and his wife established the Charles H. and Mildred Kruse Bridges Chair in Veterinary Medical Education for the College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M in 2000. He received numerous awards for his work including the Charles L. Davis Foundation Harold W. Casey Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching of Veterinary Pathology in 1998, TAMU College of Veterinary Medicine 1994 Distinguished Alumni Award, Academia MS/PhD and the Peter Olafson Medal, Cornell University - Teaching, Service, Research, 1994. He was a member of the Sons Of the American Revolution.

Charles and his wife Mildred along with her siblings made philanthropic contributions to Kruse Village in Brenham and established a chair in Ophthalmology at Scott and White in Temple. They were active members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church College Station for the last fifty-four years and sponsored an internship the past 10 years.

He loved his children and grandchildren and instilled in all of them a love of inquisitiveness and curiosity, fly fishing and the outdoors. He told his grandchildren that “nothing is impossible if you put in the work“. He was an eternal student and a life-long learner and his former students in later years learned to appreciate his rigor and demanding standards. He loved to solve problems and his work in toxic plants and metal toxicity benefited many in farming and ranching to help them preserve their economic base. He leaves a lasting legacy to his children with his work in genealogical research and the preparation of their family history.

Charles is preceded in death by his parents, Charles M. and Mary Bridges, father and mother-in-law, E.F. and Bertha Kruse. He is survived his wife of 66 years, Mildred Kruse Bridges, his children, Charmille Tamulinas (Stacey) of Katy and Circle Pines, MN, Gary W. Bridges (Kathy) of Plano, Greg A. Bridges (Donna) of Brenham and grandchildren, Madison, Eric and Katerina. He is also survived by brothers and sisters-in-law, Ed Kruse (Evelyn), Howard Kruse (Verlin) and Evelyn Ann Kruse, all of Brenham, and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials can be made to Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church 1001 Woodcreek in College Station.

We are diminished by his loss.