Sarah Bradley

Sarah Ann "Sally" Bradley (nee Hill) died peacefully at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, PA, on Thursday, July 2, surrounded by family. In June she’d celebrated her 93rd birthday with extended family at Bryn Mawr Terrace, where she’d lived since 2018.

Sally was born June 20, 1927 in Philadelphia, PA to William J. Hill and Elizabeth Buechele Hill. She was the oldest of four—followed by her twin sisters Jane and Elizabeth (who predeceased her) and their brother William (Bill). She graduated from St. Andrew’s School and then Villa Maria Academy. She followed her strong mother’s footsteps into nursing, training at Fitzgerald Mercy and graduating in 1948, and then working at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital, Sealtest and the University of Pennsylvania. She remained close to her nursing school comrades for the rest of her life. As a nurse, she valued being able to solve problems and bring care to people with her characteristic calm under pressure.

She met her husband, attorney Raymond J. Bradley, in 1955, when his younger brother Edward got engaged to her younger sister Jane. Sally and Ray married five years later. Theirs was a great, long love, full of deep respect and support (and her occasional, well-timed barbs). They lived in Wynnewood, PA beginning in 1965. They delighted in dining out and great food and drink. Ray died in May of 2000. Their love was perhaps most beautifully expressed on the dance floor. Sally was 5’9”, Ray was 5’6”, and they moved with suave snap and a flared finesse.

They had three sons: Michael (married to Meg Grant; previously married to Eileen H. Bradley, who died in 2001), Andrew (married to Yuko Kikuchi) and David (married to Margaret Berger Bradley).

Sally retired from nursing when she married. But she never stopped solving problems and bringing care. She did and did and did. When her brother’s wife died young, she immediately invited him and his sons to live with her family. She made it all work with grace.

She wrote poems and turned Ivory soap bottles into clever figurines to celebrate family achievements. She used the tools in the house better than anyone else. She was the consummate hostess and made every Christmas day a huge celebration for extended family, with a house that was elegant and festive and seemed to enlarge to fit three generations. She was smart, funny and an avid reader. Her dry sense of humor could puncture many a moment.

She remained dedicated to the importance of what hospitals and care facilities can mean for a community, volunteering for decades in many different auxiliaries at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, including serving on the Women’s Board, as well as serving on the board of St. Ignatius Nursing Home in Philadelphia.

Sally was devoted to her sons, supporting them in any way she could, going the extra mile (and driving even more extra miles) in many situations and always keeping an open door through the years whenever they needed it. She loved her daughters-in-law, each different from her but each connecting with her in distinct ways that enhanced the family. She saw each couple making its own way, and saw her sons so enriched by these great women.

Her five grandchildren—Jacob, Noah, Bryan and Christopher Bradley and Ian Cruiess—were a supreme delight. She gave them first haircuts, trademark peanut butter sandwiches, countless birthday celebrations and a lot of laughs (especially with her unending quips about Philly sports teams). They stayed devoted to her, helping her into cars and bed in her later years and helping set up her nursing home room.

She lived as a devout Catholic and a daily communicant, and was a member of Presentation B.V.M parish in Wynnewood for 55 years. Loyal and constant, she kept lifelong friends.

Sally Bradley was elegant, dignified, formidable in facing a variety of challenges and full of integrity, strong values and generous love. May she dance on with Ray, and may we all feel a little stardust sprinkling from their steps.

Services and interment are private.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in Sally’s name to the Lankenau Medical Center Foundation, designated to the Nursing Excellence Program: Lankenau Medical Center Foundation/Nursing Excellence Program/100 E. Lancaster Avenue/Wynnewood, PA 19096.