Lorna "Joy" Bradley
This is my grandmother. She was had "moxy". She led a a difficult life and spent it trapped in a body that never cooperated with her. She had six children and buried two. I read a description of her in a genealogy book written by an aunt or someone when she was just 10 or 12 and they described her as someone who was good at caring for the sick or elderly as she had a "Knack for it", I can't imagine being identified with this trait at such a young age, but it was the role she was to play over and over again throughout her life. There is an apartment in the basement that has served as a home for many a family member during tough times.
Despite her challenges, she was always up to something! I am pretty sure this is where part of the Bradley families deranged sense of humor comes from. At family reunions, parties and camp outs she was always leading us in a skit or play (we never could get the jokes) and she when she took up a hobby she took it all the way. When she took a ceramics class, it was not long before she her own kiln in the basement, poured her own molds and taught classes in her home. She made wonderful Barbie clothing, right down to undergarments, she had such a supply that we grand-daughters were supplied as well most female children in her know. When we were visiting years after she stopped sewing and my daughter was about 4, Grandma asked if she played Barbie's and she pulled out a box and let her take her pick, it was still full of clothes! When I began design school and I needed a dress form, wouldn't you know it, Grandma found me an actual "Wolf" dress form from 1959, just like we used in school, the exact sample size and everything, this was invaluable and still is to this day! I definitely think I got my artistic talents and perhaps a bit of the obsessiveness from her!
She was also a family record keeper and it is thanks to her, I know much of my families history. As a child receiving a genealogy book for Christmas is a pretty big let-down, but now they are part of my treasures. She also left me an antique desk with a 4-page handwritten note about it's history. I tell my children these stories about their heritage over and over again and I even write letters, I hope someday my grandchildren will remember me, their crazy grandmother too.
As a child when we would spend time at her house it was like a big party, I was sure she was crazy, she would make her famous recipes such as "Bradley-a-la-gook" and we could eat ice cream for breakfast. Now that I am grown I see many of her traits in myself, including the ability to make serve the famous dish to my family and sometimes when the kids aren't looking I eat ice cream for breakfast!
I wish I had been able to spend more time with my Grandmother as an adult. It was my Grandmother who loaded up her mobile home and helped my move to California after I graduated High School. She was able to meet all of my children except my baby Morgane. Ironically she died just a week before we were to arrive in Salt Lake for a 2 week visit. I really admire the woman she was and the way she handled the lot she had been dealt in life. I am grateful for the qualities I was lucky enough to inherit from her, but most of all, that I learned it is fun to be crazy!
