Marilyn Bridges, November 22, 2025

Title

interviewee

Marilyn Bridges

interviewer

Adelaide Riedesel

Date

2025-11-22

Subject

Adirondacks

Albany, New York

Buffalo, New York

Camden, Alabama

Cancer

Christianity

Church

Dating

Farming

Hospice

Indian Lake, New York

Nursing

Prejudice

Race

Schenectady, New York

Description

Marilyn Bridges is a nurse practitioner living in Indian Lake, New York. She was born in
Buffalo, New York, to a teenage mother, and was raised during her early childhood by her
grandparents on a small farm in Camden, Alabama. Bridges’ recollections of her childhood on
the farm include persuading her traditional grandmother to install electricity in the house and,
later, a television. At fourteen, she decided to return to Buffalo to visit her mother, stepfather,
and siblings, family members she had not seen in nearly a decade, and it turned into a two-year
stay.

When Bridges eventually returned to Camden, her grandparents had sold their farm and
moved into the township. She enrolled in a supposedly integrated public school, though white
families in the area had established a private academy in response to desegregation, leaving only
one white student in the local school. Bridges’ account of her youth includes stories of attending
college, navigating early relationships, and ultimately moving back to New York after meeting
her future husband. She later had a son, Sean, and pursued further education to become a nurse
practitioner in Albany, New York.

After graduating from nursing school, Bridges relocated to the Adirondacks for work,
becoming one of the few Black medical professionals in the region. Bridges describes her
experiences treating mostly white patients in rural Adirondack communities, noting that while
many families welcomed her care, others were hesitant or openly resistant to receiving treatment
from a Black nurse. Despite these challenges, she emphasizes a strong sense of professional
duty, compassion, and commitment she attributes in part to her Christian faith, which she
referenced repeatedly when discussing her approach to caregiving and forgiveness.

I interviewed Ms. Bridges at her home in Indian Lake, New York. She is currently
undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer and is staying at the Amanda House at Glens
Falls Hospital during her treatment period. Because of this, she has temporarily paused her work
as a nurse practitioner.

Ms. Bridges speaks with a blended vernacular shaped by her Southern upbringing and her
use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). I have chosen to preserve some of these
grammatical particularities and turns of phrase in the transcript to reflect the cadence and
character of her speech. As with any transcription, however, it is impossible to fully capture the
nuances of her dialect, and researchers are encouraged to consult the audio recordings for greater
accuracy.

Creator

Adelaide Riedesel

Publisher

Cooperstown Graduate
Program, State University of New York at Oneonta

Rights

Cooperstown Graduate
Association, Cooperstown, NY

Adirondack Experience, Blue
Mountain Lake, NY

Language

en-US

Item