25-03-2025
Knoxville woman recognized for unrelenting dedication to the community
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Giving the gift of time is what this 'Remarkable Woman' is all about. Getting her to talk about all she does is something else entirely.
'She doesn't talk about herself. She doesn't say anything. We have to dig it out of her, pull it out of her and so we feel like she does things out of the love in her heart,' said Gloria Deathridge.
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Former Knox County School Board member and Lady Vols Basketball pioneer Gloria Deathridge is remarkable in her own right. She took the time to nominate her good friend Jacqueline Bridgeman for WATE's Remarkable Women series for her years of volunteer work as an emergency responder with the American Red Cross and for managing a relief shelter during the Gatlinburg wildfires.
'It's really revealing,' Bridgeman said. 'When someone only needs you to sit down and hold their hand to get through their disaster.'
Years before the wildfires, she helped victims of Hurricane Katrina who found food and a place to sleep at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.
'I would go to work, I would get off, and I would go over to the coliseum until 3 or 4 in the morning. Go home, go to bed, get up, go back to Y12,' Bridgeman recalled.
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What this remarkable woman can talk about is her personal mission to give back. She volunteers with Mobile Meals. She holds office with service organization Links, Incorporated, along with Gloria Deathridge.
'When you begin to work with other women, they become part of you. You become part of them and the division line between a friend and a sister is very, very blurred,' Bridgeman said.
She regularly visits schools, and that's not all.
'We just know she disappears,' Deathridge told us. 'And when she disappears, you know she's doing something for somebody. She takes people to the grocery store. She takes them to their doctors' appointments. She just does so much for other people.'
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Bridgeman also has a heart for veterans, attending and supporting too many veterans' events in the community to count, taking time to hear their stories at Ben Atchley Veterans Nursing Home. She has also been on HonorAir flights as a volunteer and has been on the Vietnam Veterans Flight to Vietnam four times to learn about her brother's experiences, which he did not often talk about.
We thank Jacqueline Bridgeman for her service in her own way to our community.
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