He loved fashion and was always dressed in a suit when he left home. But Rubin Bridges was a down-to-earth man, always willing to help others, his wife said.
“He was just that guy,” Esther Regina Bridges told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was the go-to person for anything.”
The role he most cherished was as Papa to his 4-year-old twin granddaughters.
“His world was the kids,” his wife said. “He would do anything for his babies.”
Bridges was shot to death in April in southwest Atlanta. One suspect has been arrested but the case remains under investigation. Bridges’ family still struggles to understand why he was killed.
“He would’ve given them anything,” his widow said. “Why would you want to take his life like that?”
The Bridges lived in Fayetteville, but Rubin had previously lived in southwest Atlanta. Sometimes, he’d go meet friends for a night out, his wife said. Those who knew him the longest knew Bridges by nicknames, including his middle name, Ferrow, or Pokey, a name given to him by his great-grandmother.
On the morning of April 15, the 59-year-old man hadn’t returned home. Esther wasn’t worried, figuring perhaps he’d been out late and stayed at a friend’s home. Then she sat down to read the morning news, and she spotted a photo of a wrecked Jaguar that looked like the one her husband had been driving. She immediately wonder if the car had been stolen.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
She couldn’t reach her husband so she made a call to Atlanta police. By then, a Fayette County deputy had arrived at her home with news she never imagined. Her husband had been shot to death inside the car and left to die on Donnelly Avenue.
“He sat there in agony for hours,” Esther said.
Months later, Esther yearns for answers. She’s thankful for her grandchildren, including the twins who spend the weekends with her. The girls still ask where their Papa is and when he can return home.
“Grandma can’t fix it,” she said.
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