George Bridgman ended his long service as a Shelter volunteer at the end of August 2009.

George became interested in volunteering at the Garden through his mother, Betty, who had been a Friends volunteer before him. He remembers coming to the Garden with her, where she shared her love of nature and the outdoors.

Betty Bridgman was a poet and writer who also served as editor of The Fringed Gentian™. Some of her poems about the Garden are included in Collected Poems and Selected Other Writings of Betty Bridgman, and George remembers her writing a special poem in honor of the dedication of the Martha Crone Shelter in 1970.

The Bridgman family tradition of volunteering for the Garden is one of the elements that make George stand out. Another is his long service, which began in 1995. Over the years, George has particularly enjoyed helping visitors—by answering their questions on the phone and after they arrive at the Garden.

He has been pleased to orient people to the guidebook and station numbers; he’s been especially proud to inform visitors that they’ve come to the country’s oldest publicly owned wildflower garden. George’s 14 years of volunteering is ending with the summer this year when he moves to Duluth. It will be a return for him to an area he loved while teaching math at the University of Minnesota Duluth for three years in the 1970s.

The Friends thank George Bridgman and his mother for their many years of contributing to the Garden and wish him great happiness surrounded by the beauty and hiking trails of the Duluth area.