Catherine Nell Bradfield, age 94, died on October 19, 2018 in Decatur, Georgia. Catherine is survived by daughters Michelle Jean Knight (Dennis) of St. Petersburg, Florida, Christine Anne Bradfield (Bachir Boukli) of Decatur, Georgia, Gabrielle Rose Judkins of Marietta, Georgia and sons Patrick Anthony Bradfield (Yong-Suk) of Fairfax, Virginia, John Dennis Bradfield of Palm Springs, California and Peter James Bradfield of Atlanta, Georgia. She has seven grandchildren-Katryn Elsa Powell (Charles), Nicole Jean Knight, Sonja Kim Bradfield (David Belian), Paul Henry Bradfield, Brandy Chase Judkins, Samir Y. Boukli (Austin) and Zachary Adam Boukli-Hacene. She has three great-grandchildren-Brandon Keith Powell, Ryan Dennis Powell and Ashley Marie Powell. She is also survived by her sisters, Elizabeth Ann Schafer of Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Rita Agnes Kinney of San Jose, California and many nieces and nephews. She leaves many friends, among them her best friend Willene Coleman (Emmanuel). Catherine is preceded in death by her husband Henry Ferris Bradfield, her parents Gertrude Stella Erhart and Morgan Gabriel McCurdy, her sister Mary Ellen Johnson and her brothers Daniel William McCurdy, John Anthony McCurdy and Robert James McCurdy.
Catherine McCurdy was born on April 24, 1924 in Whitten, South Dakota near the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Her family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska where she attended Northeast High School and the University of Nebraska. During WWII she worked for the FBI in Washington, D.C. There she took pilot lessons and was licensed to fly an airplane. She was very proud of her civilian contribution to the war effort. After the war she left to work for the U.S. government in Berlin where she assisted with the U.S. military occupation of post war Germany. While in Europe, she met her husband Henry (Brad) Bradfield who was in the U.S. military. They married in Salzburg, Austria in 1947 and settled in Frankfurt where their oldest daughter, Michelle (Mikey) was born. For close to twenty years they traveled in Asia and America with the U.S. Army and had five more children, Cris, Pat, Gai, J.D. and Peter. They retired to Florida in 1963. Brad died in 1972 and Catherine raised the kids alone, putting them through college. In 1994 she moved to Atlanta.
Catherine loved to read and argue politics. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and helped register people to vote. She was a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan and, as a child, followed the St. Louis Cardinals, listening to games on the radio. She lived through the Great Depression and that experience greatly influenced her life. She loved music, especially opera, classical and 1940s swing music. She traveled widely and taught her children to love the world and stressed the importance of history and citizenship. She dearly loved her family and was very proud of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She bragged often about all of them. She will be missed so much by all who loved her.
A visitation is scheduled for Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 10:00 a.m., followed by a funeral service at 11:00 a.m. at Floral Hills Funeral Home, 3150 Lawrenceville Highway, Tucker, GA 30084. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Habitat for Humanity, https://www.habitat.org or the League of Women Voters, https://www.lwv.org.
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