Remembering John Bridges

John Bridges worked at the Buncombe County Library system for 28 years. He served the people of Asheville for 60.

Holding one Master’s in Theater and Music and another in Library Science, both from UNC Chapel Hill, John was an equal opportunity arts patron, performer, and fan. In his youth in the 1940s and ’50s, he learned and performed recitals that included traditional southern Negro spirituals, German lieder, French art songs, Broadway tunes, and arias from operas, all on the same bill.

While never politically active, he was a lifelong advocate of equal opportunity in the arts – especially music, in which talent exists regardless of race, creed, color, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic than innate ability.

For the library, the Asheville Symphony, Asheville Community Theater, Bravo Concerts, and other cultural groups, John Bridges brought intellectual rigor and in-depth research to every production – whether he was performing, speaking about it, or educating others. He was the ignition for Thrice-Told Tales, the performing group comprising Janet Oliver, Becky Stone, and the late Rocky Fulp, who regaled audiences with traditional African American folk tales.

It was a blessing that North Carolina enjoyed, for more than 75 years, the mind and heart of John Bridges, for whom equality – equal rights and equal opportunity – was more than a slogan, more than a dream, more than a goal: it was simply a fact of life, based on innate ability and the content of one’s character.