Patricia Bradley, Springside Academy librarian

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Patricia Pray Bradley, 97, died peacefully on June 8, 2017 at the North Hill Senior Living Community in Needham, Massachusetts. She was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Robert H. Bradley, Jr. They were married for 63 years.

Born in Boston in 1919, Bradley was the daughter of Thornton C. Pray and Virginia C. Pray. Reared in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Springside Academy in 1937 and attended Wells College in New York.

Before she married Robert H. Bradley, Jr in 1942, she worked for a number of physicians, the most prominent of whom was Dr. Benjamin Spock, the author of Baby and Child Care, one of the best-selling books of all time. Returning to Chestnut Hill during World War II while her husband served as a physician in the U.S. Navy, she gave birth to three children between 1943 and 1948. When her husband set up his own medical practice, she served as his office manager for five years, while simultaneously managing the household. She felt deeply that her calling was to be a homemaker and devoted herself to the care of her husband and raising her three children.

When her children were grown, she went to work as a librarian at Springside Academy in Chestnut Hill. She loved to read and enjoyed books of all kinds. She was especially fond of children’s books, and treasured her job as a librarian, delighting to introduce elementary and middle school girls at Springside to the joys of reading. She and her husband moved to Foulkeways Retirement Community at Gwynedd, Pennsylvania in 1995 and enjoyed 10 wonderful years where they made many friends and were leaders in the community.  Upon the death of her husband in 2005, she moved to North Hill to be close to her family in the Boston area. Her outgoing nature and interest in others won her many friends at North Hill during the eleven years she spent there.

She is survived by her three children, Virginia B. Clark of Gladwyne, Robert H. Bradley, III of Wellesley, and his wife, Nancy, and Peter P. Bradley, of Natick. She is also survived by her goddaughter, Hilda L. Armour of Devon, England, five grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren, her brother-in-law Thomas W. Bradley and his wife, Margaret, and 15 nieces and nephews.

A private service will be held in July.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Boston Trinity Academy Scholarship Fund, 17 Hale Street, Hyde Park, Boston, MA 02136 or Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 500 W. Willow Grove Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118. An online guestbook can be found at gfdoherty.com. Arrangements by George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, Needham, MA.

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