News, Citizen Profile, Clarence R. Bradford, LaSalle Parish, La. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Submitted by Craig Franklin and The Jena Times From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal, Jena, LA Sept. 12, 2001 Page 14A Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. A Times-Signal feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute Clarence R. Bradford – Citizen Profile For Clarence R. Bradford, ministering at local nursing homes is a regular part of his life, although he admits he never saw the need until his wife was admitted several years ago. "When my wife got sick and I had to place her in the nursing home, it was a terrible time for me," he said. "But God used that experience to show me the need those residents have for visitors, help and attention. I've been a regular volunteer ever since." Born on March 9, 1917 to Rubin and Rebecca Bradford in Walters, Louisiana, Mr. Bradford was the oldest of 11 children who grew up learning the meaning of hard work. "My parents taught us all to work and as a result every one of us turned out to be hard working people," he said. Walters was a farming community and Mr. Bradford's dad farmed and also worked at a sawmill. With eleven children, his mother had little spare time, tending to all of the little ones. "We lived there for about 5 years after I was born, then the high water came up and we moved to Jena," he said. "My parents stayed in Jena and this is where all of us were raised." Today, four of Mr. Bradford's siblings still live in Jena, Myrtle Kendrick, Van Bradford, Velma Rose Boyd and Flora Speed. Another sister lives in Shreveport, another in Vidalia, and another in Georgia. Three of the Bradford children have passed away. "I started school at Jena and went through the seventh grade," Mr. Bradford said. "I then went to work for my granddaddy on his farm to help take care of my younger brothers and sisters." For nearly four years he worked on the farm, until he was 17 years old and he went into the CC Camps. "I started out at Sikes, then went to Camp Swan, and then to one near New Orleans," he said. "I stayed working in the camps for nearly 3 years, or until I was about 20 years-old." Upon getting out of the CC Camps, Mr. Bradford went to work for Baker Tank Company in Jena. He worked there for just a few months, and then went to work at the Commodity Warehouse where he stayed for another year. He then went to work on a dredge boat for a while, until he decided to try his hand at the sawmill industry. He worked for McDougald's Saw Mill for a short time, and realized he like the dredge boat work better. He only got to work back on the boats for about six months, or in December of 1942, when he was drafted into the Army for WWII. During all of this job-hopping before the war, around 1939, he met the love of his life at the downtown Jena café. "One day I went into Nick's Café and met a young girl by the name of Juanita Miller, who was working there," Mr. Bradford said. "We started dating and dated for about three years, until I was drafted." Mr. Bradford said they decided to get married shortly after he went into the Army, so on December 24, 1942, the wedding was held. For the next several months he would remain in the states, working a large part of that time out of Camp Beaureguard in Alexandria. However, in September of 1943, he was sent overseas. Not only was Mr. Bradford facing the heat of action overseas, but he also had to leave his new bride, who was seven months pregnant at the time. Two months later, on November 22, 1943, Mr. Bradford's first son was born, Jerry Bradford. Thousands of miles away in France, Mr. Bradford said he longed to see his newborn son, but knew that day would be a long time off. "My wife would send me pictures of him and I guess out of all the children, I've got the most baby pictures of Jerry than any of them because of this," he said. Nearly a year later, after the war had ended and he had obtained the rank of Staff Sergeant, Mr. Bradford returned home in September of 1944 and finally got to see his son in person for the first time. A few months later, in 1945, he went back to work on the dredge boats for the Standard Dredging Corporation. Also in that year, on September 11, the Bradford's second son was born, Wayne. Five years later, also on September 11, the couple's third child, a girl, was born. Her name was Judy. Today, Jerry lives in Rosepine, Wayne lives in Plano, Texas, and Judy Colley lives in Jena. While working for the dredge company, Mr. Bradford started out working on the dredge doing deck work, but was soon promoted to boat captain. After several years with the company, he obtained an even higher position, overseeing the operation of several boats. "Even though I had a higher position than captain, everyone referred to me as captain," he said. "We had a good living, but we had to move a lot with the company." During all of this time, his family moved with him as he traveled all across the south working the river managing the dredge boat operations. "My poor kids," he said. "All of this time they were in school and had to switch from one school to another. In over 35 years, we lived in many different towns and cities in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida." Mr. Bradford was with the company for 35 years, until they were bought out by Standard Dredging International in 1978. He continued to work for the new company for about a year and a half, until his officially retired. In 1979, he went to work for the Jena Housing Authority as their director, which is where most people in Jena know him from. "I really enjoyed that time," he said. "I had a lot of friends, black and white, and we had a good board of directors." He retired from that position in 1997, after 17 years of service. It was also during this time that one of the most life changing experiences occurred in Mr. Bradford's life. For most of his life, Mr. Bradford has been a devout Christian man, who is committed to God and serving Him. In fact, while working as a dredge boat captain, he was ordained as a deacon at a Baptist church in Miami, Florida in 1967. After moving back to Jena for the final time in the middle 1970's, Mr. Bradford was voted as a deacon at First Baptist Church in Jena in 1977. Since that time, he has taught Sunday School nearly every year and has been actively involved at the church. But it was in 1989 that God allowed him to see the ministry that He had for Mr. Bradford. This life-changing event was the sickness of his wife, which would last for four years. "She was really sick and eventually got so bad that I couldn't care for her at home," he said. "I hated the idea of putting her in a nursing home, but the doctor pretty much said it had to be, since I could not give her the care she needed." Every day Mr. Bradford would be at the LaSalle Nursing Home with his wife, and over the course of time, he said God began to show him the needs at the home. "I was there everyday, and saw the need that these residents had," he said. "Many of them do not have people to come visit them, or to help them, or just to give them attention they deserve. So I started getting involved in the other residents' lives while there with my wife." Sadly, on October 30, 1993, Mrs. Juanita passed away. The two had been married for over 50 years and it was a very hard event in Mr. Bradford's life. Still, through her sickness, God allowed Mr. Bradford to enter a new stage in his life, with a new ministry that continues to remain strong today. "This has been my ministry of service to the Lord," he said. "I started out teaching Bible classes and now there are several of us that do it. In fact, most of the time now, I let the other guys teach and that way I can go around and visit with the residents." Although he visits at both nursing homes in Jena, he does most of his volunteering at LaSalle, simply because that was where his wife had lived. "I'll generally do whatever needs to be done," he said. "There are so many needs, and if nothing else, simply sitting down and talking with the residents is a great joy to them and to me." Since retiring in 1997 from the housing authority, Mr. Bradford has had plenty of time for his ministry, which he thoroughly enjoys. "I've got to do a lot of things I really like to do," he said. "But mostly I enjoy visiting at the hospital and the nursing homes. Just doing this keeps me pretty busy." Mr. Bradford said that despite all of the terrible things that go on in the world and America today, he is still very optimistic simply because of the promises God makes in his Word. "I am concerned about lost people but I have a lot of faith that we will win a lot of people to the Lord," he said. "I also have a lot of faith in our country and our leadership, as I do with the leadership in our town." Mr. Bradford said that one of the activities that he enjoys beside his church activities is his involvement with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post. "I am a member of VFW Post 5002 and it is one of the finest that I know of," he said. "It's just a bunch of great guys that get together, there is no drinking, smoking, etc, and we've got a commander that's real dedicated to our country and the Lord." Mr. Bradford said that if there were one message he would like to get out to everyone, it would be about serving the Lord. "I believe the greatest thing there is, is serving our Lord," he said. "I'd like to see everyone serving the Lord everyway we can." And for Mr. Clarence Bradford, this statement is not just words; it's a way of life. Whether its teaching his Sunday School class, or ministering at the nursing home, his entire life is now devoted to serving others. This week, we salute Mr. Bradford, whose selfless giving and service to those in need are an example to us all.