William E. Bradley

William Eugene Bradley was born in Denver on March 3, 1948 to Eunice Winslow. Eunice married Robert Bradley who adopted William as his own son where he was raised in Denver and Boulder. William passed on October 9, 2024 and is predeceased by both parents and his sister Robin. He is survived by his wife Kathy and son Patrick (Joy) as well as numerous nieces and nephews from both sides of the family. William graduated from Fairview High School in 1966 and joined the Navy in February of 1967. He completed his military duty, earning the Air Medal for Meritorious Achievement from 15 May 1970 to 28 October 1970, and was honorably discharged on 13 May 1971.

Upon separation from the military William worked a short time at Coors and, before beginning a long and illustrious career with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the early 70's, he worked with the team on the High Altitude Observatory. William worked in the Atmospheric Chemistry Department for over 30 years at NCAR with 2 notable achievements to his credit. On 24 June 2003 he was granted a patent for his work on the "Method and Apparatus for Pivotally Mounting Instrumentation on a Line", a means for tethered balloon packages in atmospheric research. On 2 November 2004 he received his second patent for his work on "Atmospheric Data Measuring System". NCAR would be his employer until he retired.

During his time at NCAR William's lab partner, Ed Ellert, managed to convince him to go to the races with him. Ed was a member of the Sports Car Club of America at the time. William tagged along with him to Pueblo Motorsports Park where he met Kathy, the woman he would spend the rest of his life with. He joined in 1991 and was a member up until his death. William's career in SCCA was almost as storied, receiving numerous accolades and awards for his service to the club. In 1999 He received the Shirley Burtis Worker of the Year award. In 2003 he and Kathy received the Gaylord Award for family participation. In 2005 he had his best year in the club winning both the Rocky Mountain Division Worker of the Year for Course Marshall as well as the national Course Worker of the Year. The final honor was winning the trip for 2 to the 24 Hours of LeMans provided by Advan and Yokohama that same year. His final award in SCCA came in 2018 when friends commissioned the William E Bradley Ambassador of Good Will to All Specialties award in his honor. Throughout his years in the car club and in life he was known for his sense of humor, often very ill timed, but the levity was appreciated. He had his standard "dad" jokes he would always tell anyone he met. His little mermaid joke will always strike a chord.

His life was marked by the ever looming presence of the disease that would ultimately take him from us, Parkinson's. He fought it at every turn but in the end the disease would win. He lived as he wanted his son and friends to live, be a decent man, respect women and teach the children. He would have been a fabulous math teacher, he loved it so much. . In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation in William's name be made to the Parkinson's Association of the Rockies.

A memorial service for William will be held Tuesday, October 29, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Olinger Highland Mortuary & Cemetery, 10201 Grant St, Thornton, CO 80229. Following the memorial service will be a graveside service from 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM at Fort Logan National Cemetery, 4400 W Kenyon Ave, Denver, CO 80236.