Bridget Lynn Lykins

Bridget (Gnacinski) Lykins lost her battle with cancer on August 1, 2024. She was born January 15, 1977, to Ethel and (the late) James Gnacinski in Antigo, Wisconsin. On September 20, 1997, she married the love of her life, Nicholas Lykins. Two days after their 14th wedding anniversary they were blessed with a beautiful, long-awaited, baby girl. Brielle became the driving force in their life.
Bridget enjoyed friendships with all sorts of people throughout her life. Once you got to know her, you wondered how you could not be her friend. Throughout her school life she was the one everyone wanted to be around. When she got her first job at Burger King, her list of friends grew as some customers would only come in if she was working so they could talk to her. The same became true when she went to work at Prange-Way and Wal-Mart. While she was working at Mole Lake Casino, many customers commented that her bright smile made them feel good even if they had lost money. It was soon evident when she started work at Schaefer's IGA that some of those customers sought out her check-out line. She worked her way up from front-end cashier to office manager. The joke had become that the store couldn't run without her because she knew every job in the store and she kept everyone doing their job.
Bridget loved time spent with family and friends. When she and Nick were offered an old camper, she jumped at the chance to have it. Of course, it wasn't long and Nick loved camping too. They moved out of that dinky little camper into a bigger one they could spend the entire summer in. Besides camping Bridget also loved planting flowers in the spring. Mother's Day was spent with her grandmother, Mom, an aunt, Brielle and Nick buying a new garden's worth and then some of flowers.
She was always ready for a cook-out or anything that involved family and friends enjoying laughs and good times together. You can be sure that there was probably going to be a water fight of some kind if the weather was warm. And no one was out of bounds when it came to getting squirted with water.
After her daughter Brielle was born, she decided we needed to have a large Easter egg hunt at Great-Grandma's (GG) house. The yard was strewn with hundreds of eggs and a dozen or so of her cousins hunting for those eggs. It didn't make any difference if half of them weren't relation, if you had a child and knew Bridget, you were invited to share in the loot.
Bridget wasn't afraid to help anyone in need. If you didn't quite have enough to finish paying for your groceries, she paid the rest. If you lost your job just before Christmas and don't know how you would put any presents under the tree for your kids, Bridget surprised you with more than enough to keep them happy. If suddenly you find yourself with a new child because their parents can't care for them, Bridget would ask what she could do to help. If they arrived with nothing, not even a pair of shoes, Bridget would buy clothes to help the child have something to wear. She was raised to pay it forward, share what you have. Always caring and kind, always ready to help. That was Bridget.
Bridget was preceded in death by her Paternal Grandparents and her Father. She was also preceded in death by her maternal Grandfather as well as her husband's parents and other relatives.
She is survived by her husband, Nick, daughter Brielle, mother Ethel Gnacinski, brother Michael (Emanda) Gnacinski,grandmother Vera Tomlin. Sisters-in-law Melissa Duffek, Rene Tullberg, Jaimie (Ryan) Hoeft, Carrie (Mike) Burrows-Lawrence. Nephews Colton, Riley, Justin, Jubal and Levi and niece Kayla. She is also survived by half-sister Jeri (Richie) Sneller and step-mother Pat Gnacinski. Special confidante Aunt Dawn and Uncle 'Dirtbag' David Kramer also survive. She also is survived by many aunts and uncles and cousins.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Forest County Ties That Bind Us. Without them the battle to fight cancer would have been even harder.
Visitation be held on Monday, August 5, 2024 from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Weber-Hill & Packard Funeral home in Crandon and again on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 from 10:00 a.m. until the time of services at 12:00 p.m. Mr. Cole Kincaid will preside over services.