February 11, 1936 – October 23, 2022
BOWIE – Melva “Jean” Bridgwater, 86, went home to be with the Lord on Oct. 23, 2022 in Wichita Falls.
The family will receive friends from 6 – 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the White Family Funeral Home in Bowie. A funeral service will take place at 2 p.m. on Oct. 29, at the First Baptist Church in Bowie with Mike Henson and Darrell Brown officiating. Interment will follow at Salona Cemetery.
Jean was born in Terral, OK on Feb. 11, 1936. She was the daughter of Harvey and Auda Richardson, who moved to Bowie shortly after her birth. With two brothers and three sisters, the Richardson household was a busy place. Jean always loved the outdoors; she preferred milking cows to housework. As Jean entered high school, it was apparent that she had an aptitude for sports. She loved playing basketball at Bowie High School.
During high school, she met a boy that she would later describe as the “number one” love of her life. That boy, Jake Bridgwater, would ask her to marry him in December 1954. They both believed that God had brought them together. Jake and Jean married on Sept. 21, 1956. Everyone who knew them understood that there was a special connection between them. Jean accelerated her college at North Texas so that they could graduate at the same time. They then moved back to Bowie where they would make their home for the next 55 years.
Jean joined Jake in teaching and coaching at Bowie High School. She taught physical education and health while coaching girls basketball and sponsoring the pep squad and cheerleaders. Jean was one of those special teachers and coaches that supported, loved and counseled students throughout all her 33 years in education. In 1962, she coached the Bowie girls until she had to stop teaching because she was pregnant with her first child, Tammy. That team went on to play in the state finals. Just two years later, Julie, their second daughter, was born. Jean loved to spend the summers with her husband and daughters and take trips to the mountains and camp. Jean continued to coach and work with the basketball team through all the Title IX changes. She was affectionately called “Coach B” until her retirement from coaching in 1983. She spent 11 more years teaching.
Jean was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church in Bowie. She served on numerous committees, going on mission trips and teaching her beloved Hope Sunday School Class. She and her family had countless years of perfect attendance. When her daughters had chicken pox, she even hosted a Sunday school for chicken pox kids so no one had to miss Sunday school. The family was at the church every time the doors were open. Her dedication was first and foremost to the Lord.
Her grandchildren called her “Nana.” She adored each one of her five grandchildren. She loved keeping them, nursing them when they were sick and playing anything they wanted to play. She sometimes let them win, but mostly she pushed them to be better and taught them invaluable life lessons. She loved to fix breakfast for her grandkids even if they all wanted something different. Her grandsons preferred their bacon by the pound. They truly were the light and twinkle in her eye. She also loved and treasured each one of her great-grandkids.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Jake Bridgwater; parents, Harvey and Auda Richardson; brothers, H.A. and Doyle Richardson and sister, JoAnn Stone.
Jean is survived by her daughter, Tammy Brown and husband Darrell, Colleyville; daughter, Julie Henderson and husband Steve, Wichita Falls; five grandchildren, Bethany Smith and husband Paul, Jace Brown and wife Kendall, Bryce Henderson and wife Whitney, Chase Henderson and wife McKenzie and Maddie Hendricks and husband Adam; great-grandchildren, Parker, Blakely, Jake, Mason and Andrew; sisters, Joyce May and Patsy Plaxco and a host of nieces and nephews.
The family requests memorial donations be made in Jean Bridgwater’s name to the First Baptist Church of Bowie or Hospice of Wichita Falls.
Arrangements entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home of Bowie.

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