Dorothy Lucille Bradley

Dorothy Lucile Bradley passed away Thursday March 21st in the quiet early morning hours. She was 95 years old. She is survived by her son Rick Bradley and daughter Linda Wing, 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Born in 1928 in Bismarck North Dakota to Oscar and Olga Benz, she was the 3rd of 6 siblings. She often told stories about growing up on the farm in North Dakota, about riding in a horse drawn sleigh in the snow to school, about her “pet raccoon” that lived in their grain silo, or about picking up arrowheads on the plains near their house. She moved to Oregon to be closer to her sister Ethel in 1945. Where family lore says a dashing young grocery clerk named Robert (aka Bob) Bradley saw Dorothy in an insurance store window and said to a friend as they passed by “I am going to marry that girl”. Fast forward to December 1947 and they were married. A year later she gave birth to a son Rick and 7 years after that a daughter Linda. Linda was named after the ugliest girl she attended elementary school with and when you asked her why, she said oh she wasn’t good looking but she was the nicest girl. This was Dorothy. She was the good, she saw the good, she made things good. Her kindness, thoughtfulness and her giving nature was impossible to miss if you were lucky enough to be around her. She was always doing things for others, she rarely thought of herself and she believed in giving her whole self to her family and friends, asking for nothing in return. She was most generous with her love. Dorothy was married to Bob for 74 years and her faith and her marriage always carried her through. She believed at her core that everything happens for a reason and God had chosen this path for her. She was tough as nails, she had been through tough times but the darkness only seemed to illuminate the good to her. There were so many things that made Dorothy the wife, mom, and grandmother we always loved and will miss so dearly, here are just a few thousand - her hair was always curly, and she NEVER stopped moving, She loved her family, she loved to garden with Bob, she loved dahlias and zinnias, she could keep any plant alive, she was a good cook, she loved her sisters and making lefse, she loved a good Avon party, she bought candles but never burned them – ever, she was quick to laugh, she listened when you talked and was deeply empathetic, we all felt loved in her presence, her hugs were tight, her hands were always warm and she always had a handkerchief stuffed up her sleeve, she smelled of moth balls and if you came for dinner she would have a small tray of dill pickles waiting for you, and after every meal she was going to offer you frozen yogurt. We love you and miss you!

Dorothy Lucille Bradley

July 2, 1928 - March 21, 2024