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Community feels impact of teen gone too soon

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Bridget Achenbach passed away from injuries she sustained in a car crash on May 24. The 19 year old left quite a joyful legacy and impacted many community members in her time.

By Correne Martin

“The little town with a big heart” lost a small piece of it May 24 when one of its own, Bridget Achenbach, died in a car crash just a few miles from her rural Eastman home. Those who knew her will remember her as someone who accomplished more in her short 19 years than some do in a much longer lifetime.

Pictures and comments posted to the Fly High Bridget Facebook page with 2,700 followers help tell her story. Bridget was a bubbly, talented, intelligent and outgoing young woman who was passionate about adventure, meeting new people, and the outdoors as well as her family, friends and faith. One of eight children belonging to Lonnie and Jane Achenbach, Bridget was a 2014 Prairie du Chien High School graduate who was involved in soccer, golf, band, Key Club, National Honor Society and 4-H. She had just completed her freshman year at UW-La Crosse, where she achieved highest honors. She was quite active in her first year at college, in faith, community and business related activities. She was named the Crawford County Fair Ambassador in January and was beginning to embark on that journey representing agriculture locally in her final year of 4-H. According to her obituary, “she truly enjoyed making other people feel good.”

“No matter where we went, we were always having fun,” said her best friend Payton Davidson, whose graduation Bridget was headed to at the time of her accident. “She was literally the life of the party. She knew how to talk to anybody.”

“She wasn’t the kind of person who felt confined by who she had to be,” added Aaron Amundson, principal at Prairie du Chien’s Bluff View Intermediate School. “She hung out with the athletes, the cowboys, the music students. She had a personality that afforded her to get along with everybody.”

Such character traits are what her family and friends will always remember her by.

Her older sister, Sarah, who handed down the fair ambassador title to Bridget, described her similarly. “She was a friend to anyone she met. She always had a smile on her face and was the person to make people laugh,” Sarah explained. “She was willing to try everything and help anyone. Now, we have the best angel in heaven looking over us.”

Sarah said her family is doing the best they can right now one month after Bridget’s passing. She said the community support has been incredible. “It gets harder as it goes on and it becomes more real,” she said.

“But we’re very thankful for the happy outlook she had on life and for the memories we made with her. To see how much one person impacted each individual has meant so much to us. The way our small community came together to help our family and show how much they care, that’s what Bridget would’ve wanted.”

In the days since her passing, aside from the outpouring of support via social media and the overwhelming number of people who attended the wake and funeral, community members continue to leave a generous amount of food and supplies at the Achenbach home. “They won’t have to go to the store for a long time and their freezer is full,” said Carrie Nolan, Bridget’s aunt. “They have projects that will keep them busy but they’re going to need support for a long time, and the great thing about living in a small town is that people will be there for them.”

Nolan, who lost two of her own children in an ATV accident 10 years ago, hopes acquaintances will continue to share their memories of Bridget whenever they can. “You don’t want people not to talk about your child,” she said. “When you bring up a memory, it means a lot.”

In Bridget’s memory, the Prairie du Chien Class of 2014 has set up a Live Like Bridget Memorial Fund at Peoples State Bank. All donations and memorial ideas are welcome, as plans are yet to be determined. In addition, Live Like Bridget bracelets are being sold to help raise funds for the memorial.

According to her sister, Sarah, memorial T-shirts and Fly High Bridget bracelets have also been made by community members touched by this remarkable young woman.

Another tribute to Bridget was paid May 28 at the Prairie du Chien versus Platteville/Lancaster girls’ soccer match. Prior to the competition, the girls on the opposing team took time to express their sympathy to their hurting opponents during the pregame handshake with a touching display of first-class sportsmanship—one which would have surely made Bridget smile. Each Platteville/Lancaster player presented a full stem flower to each player and coach of the Prairie du Chien team, and offered kind words of condolences.

The Crawford County Fair Board has also made a compassionate gesture in Bridget’s honor. She will not be replaced as the fair’s ambassador (fairest of the fair); she will remain the ambassador posthumously.

“Bridget was a young lady who was very talented, full of life and had a plan to achieve the best along with touch others’ lives,” Crawford County Fair Coordinator Amanda Nagel said. “She was amazing. She had so much passion in living life to her potential. She was so purposeful yet carefree. We had really high hopes for her to do well representing Crawford County at the state fairest competition as well.”

Nagel, who was also Bridget’s babysitter and 4-H program adviser, explained that the fair board plans to send a letter with Bridget’s information to the state fairest convention, so she can be honored there in January.

“We will also do some things to remember her at the county level. We’re working closely with the family to determine what that’s going to be,” Nagel added. “Bridget was very on top of her duties as ambassador and had already met with some local schools to kick off what was going to be a very busy summer for her. She had so many ideas and was ready to get things done.”

Such past goodness and the loss of a charismatic young life have left many troubled and questioning why Bridget’s life was taken so soon. Father Victor Feltes, of the Achenbach family’s home parish, St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, in Eastman, wrote a homily for her funeral filled with words of consolation for her loved ones. “Her departure creates a degree of separation that’s hard and sad,” Feltes said. However, he said Bridget’s passing is like the beginning of a new life.

“Perhaps Bridget has been called to continue the Lord’s work on earth from heaven…We are not without hope…Talk to Bridget. Whether through the power of God, the meditation of angels, or a soul to soul communication, she will hear you,” he said. “Like going off to college, Bridget is beginning a new life. Bridget is loved and she is at peace.”

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