Bridston, J. B.

Joseph B. Bridston was born in Wahpeton, North Dakota in 1896. He was the son of Samuel and Borghild (Huss) Bridston. He was educated at a country school until through the eighth grade, before attending Lutheran Bible School in Wahpeton, Fergus Falls High School (Minnesota), and Central High School, Grand Forks, North Dakota. He later attended the State School of Science in Wahpeton, the University of North Dakota, and while in the U.S. Naval Reserve, the University of Washington. Bridston taught for one year at Lewistown, Montana and returned to Grand Forks. He worked as a specialty salesman and entered the insurance business. He established the J.B. Bridston Co. in 1934 and organized First Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1938. Also greatly involved in politics, his political career included terms as a N. D. State Senator (1939-1956), founder of the Republican Organizing Committee, and an unsuccessful U. S. Senatorial campaign (1946). In Grand Forks, Bridston was a former president of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association, and helped with the mill levy for the Medical Center. He also served as president of the Grand Forks Community Chest, chairman of the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce Bridge and Airport Committee, and former director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa. On September 1, 1920, Bridston married Anna Pederson of Grand Forks. The couple had three children: Keith, Jo Anne, and Paul. Joseph B. Bridston died on September 26, 1965, and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks.