FRANKLIN
William A. “Bill” Bridges, 88, Professor Emeritus of Journalism at Franklin College of Indiana, died Thursday, June 22, 2023, at Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, Indiana, with family members at his side. He had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the week during a brief illness. He was a longtime Franklin, Indiana resident.
Born April 10, 1935, in Indianapolis, he was the son of Charles Bridges and Evelyn (Larkin) Bridges, who met at Franklin College where his mother taught Physical Education.
Professor Bridges retired in 2003 from Franklin College of Indiana, but remained active on campus until a few years ago, and in retirement spent many semesters tutoring and mentoring students so they could achieve academic goals. Soon after retirement, Bridges traveled with his wife Karen to Southeast Asia, adding to their already extensive scrapbooks of world travel. As recently as a few weeks ago, he processed with faculty during graduation ceremonies at the college and attended the annual journalism student awards banquet.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Karen Bridges of Franklin; sons Karl Bridges (Rita), David Bridges (Connie, granddaughter Rebecca), Mike (Amanda; step-granddaughter Amber and great-granddaughter Clementine), and Colin. Bridges also is survived by his sister, Ann Nimnicht of Wheatland, Indiana, brother Charles (Connie) of Mishawaka, Indiana, and sister-in-law Nancy (Ashford) Bridges of St. Louis, Missouri. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Stephen.
After graduating from Lincoln High School in Vincennes, Indiana, Bridges attended Franklin College of Indiana, majoring in journalism. He was a member of the Indiana Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, as well as Student Council president and editor of the college newspaper, The Franklin. He graduated from the college in 1956. Franklin College is a family tradition-in addition to his own father and grandfather attending Franklin College, the Bridges’ sons are FC alumni as is granddaughter Rebecca.
After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army in Germany, working on the 3rd Infantry Division’s weekly newspaper. After being Honorably Discharged, he remained in Germany as a reporter for United Press International covering news events in Europe, including typing reports from reporters in Moscow covering the Francis Gary Powers spy trial.
Returning to Indiana, he was a reporter for the Vincennes Sun-Commercial, where he met his future wife, Karen Ann Petersen, who had just started working as an assistant librarian at the public library.
Soon after marriage, Bridges attended and received his Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri in 1965. He and his family then moved to Hornell, NY, where he was the managing editor of The Evening Tribune.
From 1968 to 1979, he worked at the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky as the assistant city editor.
In 1979, he returned to Franklin College of Indiana as a full-time faculty member and chairman of the journalism department. The Franklin College Board of Trustees named him as occupant of the Eugene C. and Nina Pulliam Endowed Chair in 1983. He was the director of the Pulliam School of Journalism and served several years as the staff director for the Indiana High School Press Association. He placed journalism interns in many newsrooms around the world and was instrumental in advocating for many FC students to be Pulliam Fellows at newspapers in Indianapolis, Indiana and Phoenix, Arizona. Bridges guided several semesters of newspaper staffs in writing about the campus fires and then submitted their work to the Pulitzer Prize nominating committee. They didn’t win Pulitzers but received many awards from state and national newspaper awards committees.
Travel has been an important part of his life. He traveled extensively, from the Scottish island of St. Kilda in the Outer Hebrides as a volunteer on an archeological dig, to working for a year as Senior Copy Editor of the Free China Journal in Taipei, Taiwan in 1993.
A service will be conducted at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Flinn & Maguire Funeral Home, 2898 N. Morton Street, Franklin, IN 46131. Friends may call from 2-5 p.m. prior to the service. Bill and his wife Karen were longtime members of the First Baptist Church in Franklin.
In lieu of flowers, friends are invited to help support the International Committee of the Red Cross’ efforts in Ukraine, https://www.icrc.org/en/donate.ukraine
