Betty Delores Bradley

Betty (Shields) Bradley, 91, passed away on November 8 at Corewell Health in Troy, Michigan, surrounded by family. Betty, affectionately known as “Mom,” “Grandma,” and, to her 12 great-grandchildren, “GG,” was a true matriarch. Everyone in her family looked up to her, confided in her, and loved her deeply. She had a way of making anyone she met feel completely at ease. And she always made us laugh, up until the day she died.

Born in Detroit on August 19, 1934, Betty grew up on the city’s East Side and graduated from Southeastern in 1952. While she was at synchronized swimming practice at Southeastern, an enterprising young man asked the coach who the tall swimmer was and the coach told him, “Betty Shields.” She married the young man, Bill Bradley, in 1952 and had six children before she turned 30: Gale Rusu (Nick), Billy Jr. (Cathy), Tommy (Tina), Michael (Lori), Kelly Reno (Dave), and Grace Rayes.

She raised those six children in a two-bedroom house on a firefighter’s salary. Money was tight, but she still made the kids feel special. When the family went to the movies, she passed paper bags of homemade popcorn, with a sucker at the bottom, down the row. On their birthdays, she took each kid out for a one-on-one lunch. She was famous for her raucous packed-house Christmas Eve party with her love-it-or-hate-it bologna dip, legendary pepperoni lasagna, and grandkids shrieking in search of the pickle hidden on the Christmas tree (the prize? a $2 bill and bragging rights until next year).

Once their kids were out of the house, Bill and Betty spent their winters at Betmar in Zephyrhills, Florida, spoiled their beloved grandchildren, and traveled across Europe, where they visited the Vatican, kissed the Blarney Stone, proudly packed very light, and, as grandma regularly told it, “washed our drawers in the hotel sink.”

Betty is survived by three of her children (Michael, Kelly, Grace), 13 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Bill Sr., sons Bill Jr. and Tommy, daughter Gale, her parents, and siblings William Shields and Jane Beck.

She loved bananas foster, sitting around the pool in Florida, volunteering, playing bridge, art class, telling stories (her favorite was probably regaling her grandkids about when she would “take the streetcar to Briggs Stadium, buy a ticket to the ballgame, a hot dog, and still have a nickel leftover!”), and, above all else, her big family. She turned 91 in August and, in the last months of her life, told anyone who would listen, “It was my favorite party, because it was just the family.”

There will be a viewing at Kaul Funeral Home in St. Clair Shores on Wednesday, November 12, from 4-8 pm with a rosary at 7pm.

Funeral mass at St. Malachy’s in Sterling Heights on Thursday, November 13, mass at 11:00 am (in state 10:30 am).

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to St. Bonaventure Capuchin Monastery in Detroit (Where her husband Bill frequently volunteered).