Wilfred Bradley

Wilfred Bradley

On September 25, 1925, Wilfred Bradley was born in Auckland, England to his parents Arthur & Martha Bradley. He was their 10th child, born to a family that would end up having 11 in total.

He immigrated to Canada at the age of 9 months. They moved into the Arden area and they homesteaded on the quarter where the Farmery brewery farm is now situated.

During this time here, dad always commented on gatherings with other families in the area to socialize or helping with farming. During the thirties, life got tough and after losing their horses to sleeping sickness, they decided to move back to England in 1936. They lived and farmed there until after the war and returned to live in Canada in 1947. His parents returned with 9 of their children and 2 of them remained in England for their lifetimes.

Dad worked in the Kenton, Rivers, and Neepawa area upon his return and obtained his chauffer’s licence, which is equivalent to a class 1 licence today. Dad proceeded to take up the job of driving semis for a living. He started driving at Taylor & Sons at Rivers and then moved to Neepawa Truck Service. During his many deliveries, he met up with our mom working at one of these locations as a book keeper.

He married Lucile Craig, whose maiden name was Brown, in 1955.

They worked together to purchase the farm in the fall of 1959. In 1960, they moved to the farm to live full time. They had a few cows and Dad worked out part time still trucking. He went full time farming in 1965 and continued farming until his passing.

Dad had a few hobbies besides farming. He bowled in the Wednesday bowling league for years and played cards with a few of the neighbors on Saturday nights. He enjoyed going to town for groceries and to pay bills in the last few years, as this was his social time also. He spent many hours in these stores inquiring as to where their FREE aisle was. This was his way among many others of creating humorous conversations with people. When people asked how he was doing he would reply "tired, weary and broke".

When dad was asked directions to the farm, he would say go east of Neepawa 5 miles and turn down Poverty Road. As he continued to claim he lived down Poverty Road, one of the neighbours mentioned he thought he was King of Poverty Road. One Christmas, Bev bought him the sign that you see in the back foyer area that was put in his parking spot in the yard. Many a people who came into the yard commented and chuckled on the sign.

Dad over the years had medical issues to deal with, including a quadruple heart bypass, hip replacement and prostate cancer. None of which kept him down for long.

Dad was predeceased by his wife Lucile in 2004, mother (Martha) and father (Arthur) and 10 siblings. He was the last surviving member of his family. He was also predeceased by his step-grandsons Robert LeBoutillier and Allan Duffus. He is survived by son Brian (Linda), daughter Beverly, son Darrell (Charline) and step-daughters Lois (David) and Carol (Bill), his grandchildren Chrissy, Tricia, Carolyn, Jason, Shane, Andra, Eric, Scott, Natasha, Suzanne, Yvonne, Mark and Bill, as well as his Great grandchildren Rylan, Taylor, Vanessa, Liam, Nicholas, Nicole, Henrik, Jovie, Owen, Eliana, Dominick, Aria, Lincoln, Kristen, Jolie, Nicholas, Joshua, Charisse, Jason, Sarah and Kaitlin, and great-great grandchildren Travis, Nylah, Zachary and Zoey.

Dad entered into rest peacefully at the Neepawa hospital with all of his family at his side.

Everyone has all their own individual or group memories to cherish and know he is at peace now with mom. AND he may have snuck a cow along with him!

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