Navy Ensign Brian Bugge, who died at age 35 in a dive accident three years ago Thursday, gave gifts not just to one person, but to many.

On Wednesday, Nebraska woman Alissa Evans, who received a tissue donation from Bugge that helped her regain her active lifestyle, met his widow, Ashley, and the three young children he left behind, at Kewalo Basin.

Bugge’s gift led to another. Evans and Ashley Bugge, who now lives in Vancouver, Wash., formed a long-distance bond for two years through a special program, United in Hope, set up by Legacy of Life Hawaii. They shared a long, emotional hug when meeting in person for the first time Thursday morning.

Evans, an intensive care unit nurse who knows the importance of thanking the donor family, wrote to the Bugge family.

“My entire career has been on the other side of the fence, and when I was the one on the patient’s side — and I’ve seen tissue donations and what it means to the family — in my heart I wanted to reach out to the donor family just to thank them,” Evans said.

“For the last two years, Ashley and I had developed a relationship, and it means so much to me because he gave me something that it’s just hard to wrap our heads around. I am so thankful but very humbled, and to meet her family after three years of talking back and forth …

“I’m here for her today, but it’s also … given me some happiness. It feels good for me to give back what they gave to me. It’s why I’m here.”

Evans, a competitive marathon runner and mountain climber, tore her anterior cruciate ligament in a skiing accident.

On Thursday the women and their children, Brian Bugge’s parents, extended families and friends spent a few hours bonding with Evans and her three sons boating, swimming and diving in waters where his cremated remains are located.

The two women, along with Ashley Bugge’s sister and professional dive instructors who were friends of Brian Bugge, dived down to a living reef memorial, which incorporated his cremated remains, about 300 yards outside of Kewalo Basin.

Brian Bugge was adventurous and always pushed himself to do more, including sailing a 36-foot boat with three friends to Hawaii from Washington. He also enjoyed rock climbing, hiking and kayaking.

Ashley Bugge said her husband was the type of person to push others “to go do stuff,” and now even in death has pushed others.

“She never had any intention to learn to scuba-dive, and now he has pushed her to learn to scuba-dive and come here to go see his memorial,” Bugge said.

Brian Bugge’s mother, Terry Martin of Star, Idaho, said she wanted to learn by the next anniversary of his death, as did his close friend Robert Lane, who lives in Hawaii, so they could dive to the memorial.

On May 20, 2018, Bugge went to a closed-circuit rebreather training class (recreational, not Navy-related).

He failed to go through his checklist, and his instructor did not have him go through it, and “he jumped in the water without his oxygen turned back on,” Ashley Bugge said. Within a few minutes he drowned. His instructor found him on the ocean floor, but it was too late, she said.

Bugge lost her husband while she was six months pregnant with daughter Adeline, and had a 3-year-old girl, Isabel, and 1-year-old son, Hudson.

And he apparently left his children the adventurous spirit: The two older ones jumped into the open ocean to swim above their father’s memorial.

Martin said that the gift is “very much like my son,” but “due to the accident, they couldn’t harvest, if you will, more. He was always giving … and he’s being put to good use.”