It is with the greatest sadness I bid farewell to my longtime friend and
geocaching partner, Bridget Langley-Broadwell, known in caching
circles as Suntigres. She and I met at a geocaching event back in
2011, and before long, we were caching together, oftentimes with numerous
other geocachers in a regular group. Bridget and my wife, Kimberly, got to be
good friends as well, so we frequently got together for dinners and even
non-geocaching outings (heavens, I know). Bridget met her
husband-to-be, Gerry Broadwell, in late 2016, I believe it was,
and he became part of our regular geocaching crowd. In March 2019, when they
got married at Gerry's place in Kernersville, NC, they invited me to officiate
their "almost" official wedding, which was a true honor for me.
Almost from the day I met her, Bridget suffered issues with her lungs, which
grew progressively worse over time, until she reached the point that
geocaching or other rigorous physical exercise became impossible. She had
been hoping and waiting for a lung transplant for a long spell before an
appropriate donor became available. Unfortunately, by that time, it was too
late.
Bridget passed away on April 6, 2024, after an unsuccessful attempt at lung
transplant surgery.
It's doubly hard to say goodbye since the geocaching community also lost
good friend Rob "Robgso" Isenhour only a few months ago to
lung cancer. Today, I send Gerry all my condolences during such a difficult
time, and I pray all his memories of Bridget are the happiest of his
life. R.I.P. Suntigres.
