Every now and then I have a blog post about my family. My family is very important to me. When I have something I want to remember and look back on I write about it. So today I am remembering and paying tribute to the sharpest sassiest woman I have ever met, my Grandma Bradley.

This past Wednesday April 13, Norman welcomed my last living Grandma into heaven where he pointed her in the direction of my Grandpa, my Dad, my Mom, my Aunt, my 3 cousins and my 2 second cousins. They were all there waiting for her and she was happily ready to reunite with them all, most of all Grandpa.

On February 22, 1946 Raymond O. Bradley married LaVerne J. Froehlich. Starting with my dad’s birth on November 24, 1946 a family of 6 children would complete their family. 2 boy’s and 4 girl’s kept them busy while they raised dairy and beef cattle on their farm. Grandpa’s love was with Dutch Belted beef cattle and Grandma’s love was her husband, children and her homemaker’s group. Their children grew up and provided them with 18 grandchildren which provided them with 23 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren.

See if you can pick me out. I was the third oldest grand kid.

The farm where I spent many weekends.

My grandpa passed away December 14, 2003 which left Grandma heartbroken and alone. He was her best friend and as we call it today her soulmate. After he passed she kept saying how they were suppose to die together in a car crash so they didn’t have to live apart from each other. As we know the world works in mysterious ways and we don’t usually get what we want. So since they didn’t die together Grandma told us she was giving herself 5 years to live (as that was when her drivers license needed to be renewed). Little did she know the guy upstairs had many more years for her on this earth. 5 years came and went and she needed her drivers license renewed, I remember sitting in the DVM waiting room and hearing Grandma tell the clerk that she wasn’t suppose to be alive right now that she was only going to live 5 years but since she is alive she might as well renew the license so she could still drive. The lady’s eyes bugged out of her head and I just smiled. Grandma had a knack for opening her mouth and saying what was exactly on her mind with no filter and would think about it afterwards and realize that maybe she shouldn’t have said that. We had many laughs watching the reaction of people when she or we talked in public. She always said that if Ray was alive she wouldn’t be getting away with talking like that. I thought it kept her young and we just learned to rein her in sometimes, it was her personality and we weren’t going to change her no matter how many times we tried.

Notes, notes and more notes from many years ago.

Grandma was the best darn note taker I ever met. From day one she kept notes, she would pin them or tape them to various walls in the house. She kept track of everything from the date and time of each haircut and perm to the time and type of car that went past her house. She was on high alert living in the county and no one I mean no one passed her house without her knowing and if she didn’t recognize a vehicle she made sure she jumped in her car and would follow them to see what they were up to and you better have a good reason as to what you were up to on her road. Grandma passed at home and their were road watching notes right up to the end as my cousin just started building a house so she documented each construction truck that came and went. If any employer had a question if their workers were there working they could just look at Grandma’s notes. I now know where I get my note taking skills from as I find myself doing the same thing on certain things. Grandma would also label the items in her house with the person’s name who gave that item to her as she felt when she died that person should get their item back. As we were cleaning her house out I noticed that some items had brand new notes on them so just recently Grandma went around and put notes on things so we would know what they were about after she died. It has made cleaning very handy.

Speaking of notes when my uncle was cleaning out Grandma’s wallet he found the above note. It was folded neatly in her wallet where as you can see from the date on it she carried it with her since 1945. This shows you the love they had for each other and now I understand why she didn’t want to be separated from the love of her life. And you thought (ok I thought) true love only happens in the movies. The Bradley movie was real life and such that many could only hope their marriages turn out like it. Part of Grandpa and Grandma will rest at Bradley Branches where my mom and dad’s ashes are. The other part will be resting in the cemetery where other relatives are buried.This resting spot used to be part of Grandpa and Grandma’s land that they gave to my dad then after my dad died my brother and I got it. It’s tucked away in the woods beyond the farm land and roads in a peaceful spot where you can go and be one with them. It is here that Grandma and I would spend many hours. It is here that I spend my last days with Norman, it is here where part of Norman lies as well as my mom and dad’s dogs, cats and Grandma’s dogs. It’s is a place that will be a very special place for as long as I am on this earth.

LaVerne J. Bradley

I hope you don’t think -I’m complaining or had it rough. I had a “good” life-sure-wish some things had not happened-but that’s life and you should learn from that. I’ve never been cold or hungry that could not be fixed. Life today (to me) is too fast and changing. No time-“to stop and smell the roses”. To me-being comfortable-worth my salt (don’t get much done) some what explains -why money doesn’t mean happiness to me. In my memories is lots of times of happiness that had nothing to do with money”.

Grandma Bradley