Suzanne Helen Bridgeman

She was born in Chicago Illinois on April 12, 1934, the second child of Francis Marquis Lafayette Coquillette and Bernice Helen Jaworski. Sue grew up with 2 sisters and 1 brother and had a pretty great childhood. She loved school and was an exceptional student. She loved learning and even earned a partial scholarship to continue her education, but was unfortunately unable to pursue that path. She was involved in many things in her first 18 years, including Girl scouts, drama club, editor of the school newspaper, writing poetry and even co-authoring a school play. She also belonged to an academic girls club called the De-icers, and had a variety of jobs, including one at a local newspaper. She and her family spent summers at a small vacation cabin which the family built near a lake in Minong, Wisconsin, and later in life, with her husband and their children.

She met her husband Roger Bridgeman at a friend’s wedding and 3 months later he proposed. They were married June 6, 1953 and on April 7, 1954, welcomed their first child, a son. They grew their family having 3 more sons and a daughter. She was a housewife and mother. Her dream since she was a little girl. In 1969 they moved to Longmont, Colorado for Roger’s job as a PBX installer with Bell Telephone in Illinois to Mountain Bell here. She missed Chicago, but quickly set about making a new life. One of the first things was to become members of the First Evangelical Lutheran Church, where she taught Sunday school for a short time. In 1970 they bought a home in Southmoor Park, where she continued to live until her passing.

She and Roger divorced in 1979 and she never remarried but continued on with her life and raising her 2 youngest children who were 13 and 17. She learned to drive alongside her oldest son. She got a job selling Avon and eventually went to school to get her real estate license and joined “The Barnard Agency” owned by Lyle Barnard. The agency ceased to exist many years ago but she continued in real estate for 43 years. She learned to knit and crochet after coming to Colorado and started entering her Afghans, ponchos etc. in the boulder county fair and rodeo, winning various ribbons for her creations. She also volunteered with brownies and led her daughter’s 4-H group, teaching them to crochet. She was a member of the St.Vrain Historical society. Every year she served strawberry shortcake at the Strawberry Festival in May, made and served pumpkin pie for Pumpkin Pie Days in October and was an occasional host of tours through beautiful homes that participated in the Christmas Home Tour each December.

As a Realtor she was involved with Longmont Board of Realtors, Chamber of Commerce, and the St.Vrain Rotary. As part of the rotary she sold tickets for the Duck Race that occurred during Rhythm on the River at Roger’s Grove. For several weeks prior to this event, having established relationships throughout the Longmont business community, she spent many hours of her time securing prizes for a drawing that was held at the conclusion of the event. She had also done the 3k walk and received certificates of mention for best time in her age group. She was a Neighborhood Group Leader in Southmoor Park, and in her capacity as a leader, she helped start and facilitate a small youth group with the pastor of the former First Free Methodist Church, Gene Poole. On Friday evenings local kids could come to the church to play basketball or volleyball, play games, work on crafts and eat pizza. Unfortunately it never really took off and was short lived. She planned and carried out an annual picnic in Kanemoto Park for 16 years with the help of her family, many volunteers in the neighborhood, the local Safeway on Ken Pratt Blvd, the south Main St. McDonald’s, and the awesome music of Ken & Lori Case, with their longtime band mates. She was on the board of The St.Vrain Manor Christian Housing for seniors, for 10 years. All of these things she did while raising her children and getting each one launched, (some, more than once) working in real estate and making friends everywhere she went.

Suzanne finally fully retired at 80 but got involved in ancestry and The Longmont Genealogical Society with her younger sister Florence Hill, who moved here 13+ years ago from Michigan. She even took a trip to Utah with her son Mike and his wife Pam. All of these accomplishments were not for recognition or accolades but for community, and her place in it. She truly was a lover of people and it showed in everything she did. If she were here now, she would say that she had a long and wonderful life. And she did!

She was preceded in death by her parents and her oldest child, Bill Bridgeman. She is survived by her 4 remaining children, Mike (Pam) Bridgeman, Dave Bridgeman, Andy (Dawn) Bridgeman and Beth (Jamie) Madow; 11 grandchildren, D’Arcy Weigel, Jason (Aubrey) Bridgeman, Jered (Stacy) Bridgeman, Mason Bridgeman, Jordan (Jamie) Bridgeman, Camryn Holland, Matthew (Crystal) Bridgeman, Kara (Doug) Weiss, Ryan (Jennifer) Bridgeman, Roger Zimmerman and Marcus Zimmerman; 12 great-grandchildren Ashlyn Fowler, Henry Bridgeman, Elijah Bridgeman, Noah Nickelsen, Makena Bridgeman, Shaelyn Bridgeman, Blake Holland, Kianah Holland, Arlee Bates, Rosalie Bates, Kaitlyn Bridgeman and Hannah Bridgeman; 3 Siblings Jean Mckee - Illinois, David Coquillette - California and Florence Hill - Colorado.

A visitation took place on Thursday, March 2, 2023 followed by her funeral service, all at First Lutheran Church in Longmont. Cremation followed the service at Ahlberg Funeral Chapel and Crematory. Visit www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com to share condolences.