Shirley Bridge
1922—2008
Pharmacist, Philanthropist, and Community Activist
Listen to an interview with Shirley Bridge
Shirley Bridge, who died May 31, 2008 at the age of 86, was called "Mother," a "giant," a "lady" and "brilliant." Throughout her life, she acted as a touchstone for many and a mentor to more. In June 2001 she spoke with Roz Bornstein as part of a Jewish Women's Archive oral history.
Shirley Bridge was a natural bridge builder because her concerns were truly to make this world a better place for all of us. She was a champion for minority and women's rights, supported human services and worked for equal opportunities for all. She was among those women who pioneered and led us through enormous transitions. She thought and dreamed big in her modest way, then acted with one foot in front of the other.
"What do we have to do? Who do we have to contact today? What next?"
Shirley's way was to get right in there and do what it takes to get the job done.
Her lifetime efforts changed the lives of women, making and remaking the female script. Shirley was a zealous, passionate and indefatigable supporter of women's and health issues. She battled and survived five primary cancers and many related health challenges over the years. Her selfless nature led her to deflect her pain by focusing on her concern for others. For all of my adult life, Shirley has been a mentor and a role model for me.
From Jon Bridge, son
She was involved. I remember her years as treasurer for the 43rd District Democrats when only Republicans were elected from the district. She even made the front page of the Post-Intelligencer (along with [my brother] Danny), participating in a nation-wide telephone hook-up with Lady Bird Johnson. Her fight for equal rights, particularly for women's rights as a member of the original Seattle Women's Commission, their second president and playing a major role in the establishment of the first Women's Rights Office in Washington State is memorable. Her fight for co-management rights of community property in Washington in 1970 and for joint credit reporting paved the way for gender equality and the state ERA. She served on numerous boards – NW School for Hearing Impaired Children, AIDS Housing (now Building Changes), Senior Services of King County, Harborview Hospital Foundation. She volunteered for the League of Women Voters and was the founding co-chair of the Women's Endowment Foundation of the Jewish Federation… Her work for and with the UW School of Pharmacy is legendary. All these activities and more – while she was a cancer fighter and survivor for over 53 years. Any one of her primary operations could have resulted in an excuse for retiring, feeling sorry for herself and "checking out" of the world around her, something she never did...
From Merrily Laytner, friend
There was no artifice. There were No Games. What you saw is what you got. She showed up. She was present. She came through. When she walked in, you knew everything was going to be alright. She was a lady. She was elegant. She was beautiful. She was brilliant. She was ferocious. She was tender. She drank a good, dry martini with extra olives. She was my touchstone. I am one of Shirley's girls.
I assume every woman here today is one of Shirley's girls. For, if not for her, would our professional journeys have been as easy or possible? I know mine wouldn't have been. Her accomplishments are legion. She worked two jobs in order to go to the UW. She was born a feminist and never had to go through enlightenment to get there.
She helped write legislation ensuring equal pay for equal work. She founded agencies that took care of beaten women, the sick, the elderly, and on. I was fortunate to work with her on the creation of the Women's Endowment Foundation, an organization dedicated to ensuring that Jewish women who were being abused were acknowledged, cared for and that their needs came to the top of the priority list of Jewish Communal Service agencies. The work of the endowment came to fruition with the funding of many local, national and international organizations dedicated to caring for abused women and children and finally in the creation of the wonderful Project D'vorah at the Jewish Family Service. This program exposed the profound need of this unspoken and tragic problem in our community and has and continues to serve hundreds of women.
From Dan Bridge, son
She was a walking contradiction:
A woman who wasn't classically maternal, but who EVERYONE called "Mother," even her co-workers at the Bon who were OLDER than she.
An original women's libber who could walk into any CEO's office and demand a donation for her cause but couldn't for the life of her sew on a button or ride a bike (but who DID TRY to drive when my dad was in Korea).
A VERY public figure with a very PRIVATE life – she NEVER wanted to bask in the limelight of communal recognition.
A giver of generous-spirit, both with time and money…
A no-nonsense woman who loved talking baby-talk with her grandchildren Donald, Becky, Jake, and Zach and who REVELLED in the fact that she lived to be a great grandmother to Chloe.
A person who could care for BOTH the macro, bleeding crowd, AND the MICRO... her kids, Aunt Bev (the sister she loved so much who she always invited on our summer vacations), Sunny, my dad...
From Betsy Lieberman, friend
Shirley had the courage, confidence, commitment and connections to co-chair the capital campaign to build Bailey Boushay House (BBH). She was incredibly generous; she would arrive at the AIDS Housing of Washington (AHW) original office above de-Laurenti's in the Pike Market with a little something in the form of a check that she had written or had asked for from someone else.
I would often get a phone call from Shirley at 5:00 a.m. while she was on the exercycle in her building with a new thought about someone to solicit for BBH. Asking "Did I wake you?" but not waiting for a response...
As we cried together upon learning of Shirley’s death, Michele Hassan, the first Director of Development at AHW, reminded me that with Shirley gone, we now have an even greater responsibility to support and fill her commitment to young women leaders – to carry the Shirley Bridge mantel forward.
Shirley Bridge. Photo: Joan Roth.
Remembering Shirley Bridge
by Kathleen O'Connor
Shirley may have only been five feet tall, but she was a giant. She was a giant as a leader; as a community activist, a generous philanthropist, a wife and mother, and a giant as a friend.
I first met Shirley in 1972, when she was the president of the Seattle Women's Commission. We bonded instantly when we learned that we had each been denied credit in our own names because we were married, even when we had our own jobs and our own incomes. Shirley had wanted to borrow some money to help a friend, and the bankers said "We're sure Herb won't mind." Well, Herb did not mind, but Shirley did. So, to make a long story short – in 1973, Washington became the first state in the nation to ban discrimination in credit and insurance based on sex or marital status. We've been making trouble together ever since.
I had never seen a woman so bold before! And, like all of us, I wanted to make a difference. So, Shirley loved to take on causes and I was at her side for the adventure. She became my role model, mentor, soul mom, and ultimately my dearest, dearest, sweetest friend of nearly 40 years.
But what you may not know with all these daring roles is–Shirley did not drive. So those of us who are fighting for women's rights are calling each other... "I can pick her up, can you take her home?" When the movie came out about the same time, we coined the expression "Driving Miss Shirley." And we drove her with pride and honor.
Shirley was truly a giant as a friend. Yes, you often "paid" for being a friend, because you always got the call for this candidate or that cause, and of course it is always easier to say yes to Shirley than say no. But if she knew you could not afford it, there was always space at the table and you were always included.
And she had a wealth of friends. There was a group called the Nertzes, all professional working women, who met frequently for breakfast at the Georgian Room at the Olympic Hotel, and other places, where they would have breakfast and drink champagne before they went to work. They also took frequent trips to Las Vegas. Shirley loved to play poker and blackjack, and she won.
Just as the Seattle community won from her gambles on causes few others would touch. Whether it was women's rights, political candidates, health care reform, cutting edge or seemingly impossible causes, she championed them and pretty soon, so did everyone else. And suddenly you have a Bailey-Boushay House, an Endowment at the Jewish Federation, legally binding equal opportunity in employment, credit and housing, a Basic Health Plan and insurance plans that covered contraceptives as well as Viagra.
In her heyday, phones of her family and friends were ringing off the hook, sometimes at the most amazing times–like 5:30 or 6 AM. "Okay. Either someone died or it's Shirley."
And if she succeeded as a community activist, she also succeeded in family. She and Herb celebrated 60 robust years of marriage. And as we have seen what Jon and his wife, Bobbe, and Dan now with his wife, Sim, have brought to this community, we all know that apples don't fall far from the tree.
While Shirley and I became friends from a joy of political plotting, our friendship deepened when my son was killed in a car accident in 1991. Shirley simply would not let me quit. She made me come to dinners, breakfasts, projects. I could never say "no"; it was Shirley. I have no idea that first raw year where we went, what we did, or who we met. But she kept me going, because she knew that you can't quit. Because of her, I didn't quit. Because she never quit on a friend, on a cause, or fighting cancer.
When her colon cancer returned in the late 90s, she had chemotherapy since they found cancer in her lymph nodes. But we kept going out for dinner, and since she could not drink on chemo, she would order a martini for me and a side of olives for her, so she could stuff them in my martini and eat them for the taste. To this day, there are restaurants in town thatwould see us coming and have a martini with a side of olives ready to go.
Because of her, I am who I am today. Because of her, I have learned you really can make a difference and make seemingly impossible changes that dramatically affect people's lives. But most of all she was the sweetest friend. She would take me to dinner. We would gossip and giggle. I would take her on drives to the country. She would tell me of her childhood. I would bake her berry pies and soda bread.
So if I would leave you with any legacy of Shirley. It would be two things: serve and be a good friend.
Can you imagine the holes we would have in this community if Shirley had said: "This is too big a project. This will cost too much money. This will take too much time. I won't get anyone to help. I can't do this. I am only one woman." Shirley's life demonstrated without a doubt the power of one and the power of love and devotion to family and friends. And if this one small woman can be a giant in so many things, challenge yourself to be the same.
Share your own Shirley Bridge memories or reflections for inclusion in our archive and for possible posting on JWA's website. Please email us at
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How to Cite This Page For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - We Remember - Shirley Bridge." <http://jwa.org/discover/weremember/bridge/index.html>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "JWA - We Remember - Shirley Bridge," <http://jwa.org/discover/weremember/bridge/index.html>.
