Bradford, Maria 1911-1996

BRADFORD, GERSON, PAULSEN, FRANK

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 3/4/2010 at 17:31:25

The Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) Dec. 12, 1996

MARIA BRADFORD

Maria Bradford, 85, of 1324 Main St., Grinnell, died of cancer Sunday, Dec. 8, at her home.

A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Friday in Herrick Chapel on the Grinnell College campus. The Smith Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Her body was donated to the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

She was born Maria Gerson in Berlin in 1911. She was educated to be a governess.

She emigrated to New York in 1937 and later worked as a governess for a family in Madison, Wis. She was married to Curtis Bradford in 1941 and remained there while he taught English literature at the University of Wisconsin. They later lived in Rockford, Ill., before coming to Grinnell in 1946 when Dr. Bradford accepted a faculty post at Grinnell College.

Mrs. Bradford worked as a nursing assistant at the former Grinnell General Hospital until her retirement in 1986.

Surviving are two daughters, Maria Paulsen of Berlin, Germany, and Nancy Frank of Essex, Mass.; two sons, Lewis of Chicago and Walter of Evanston, Ill; and seven grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in Mrs. Bradford's name may be made to the Fine Arts Department of Grinnell College.