Harold 'Hal' Bradley

Hal Bradley, 91, of Denver, passed away peacefully July 1, 2011. Hal was preceded in death by his beloved wife Rose Bradley. Survived by his daughter Sandi and his son Bill. Grandfather of Corey, Shannon, Josh, Bill, Tiffany. Great grandfather of 8. Memorial service, 3pm, Saturday, July 9, Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 11150 E. Dartmouth Ave., Aurora. Committal at Fort Logan National Cemetery. ""This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind... let it be something good."" Hal Bradley, lovingly called ""Dude"" by his loving wife Rose, was a man that was kind and generous to everyone he met. He loved his daughter Sandi and he loved me and when he saw his grandchildren and great grandchildren you could see the joy and pride that lit up his face. There was never a time that my Dad didn't give me his full attention.. He was short on advice choosing to let me venture on and learn from my experiences. He was always there to pick me up and dust me off when needed and he inspired me by always telling me to reach higher'dig a little deeper and to follow my heart. Some of you may not have known my father the way that I did, but for those who did not get to see this side of him, you truly missed out on knowing a great man. My Dad made sure his family was taken care of even if it meant he had to sacrifice something important to him. As far back as I can remember, My Dad was front and center in my life. He made virtually every single football game I played, every single baseball game and more often than not you could see him hovering the sidelines at most of my practices. I was so proud that my Dad had played for the Denver Bears. Every chance I got I would show my friends his baseball clippings from the Denver Post and revel in his spotlight. I wanted to be every bit as good as he was. Just the other day, my daughter Tiffany, told me you could go online and view stats for the 1941 Denver Bears. Sure enough, his stats were there and his numbers were very impressive. I laughed knowing how he struggled walking around in his latter years when I saw that in 1941, he had 25 stolen bases. He played with Dizzy Dean, and batted against Bob Feller and Allie Reynolds. Again, I was just so proud of his accomplishments. World War II cut short his baseball career when he entered the US Army on July 6, 1943. As a non-commissioned officer, he served with the 405th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion in England, France, Belgium and Holland. He was in charge of headquarters battery and responsible for all administrative and tactical functions. He directed and supervised work of 120 men. He landed at Normandy 4 days after D '"" Day and ran into heavy resistance at the Battle of the Bulge. My father's journey on this earth has ended. He was blessed to have been in good health most of his 91 years. In the end, he passed on quite peacefully with his grandson Bill, his daughter Sandi and me at his side. It was a very fitting end for my Dad as we were watching the Rockies game together. We provided play by play with a whisper in his ear of a Tulo home run and a Cargo home run and I may be wrong but I could have sworn, I could see a smile on his face just before he took his last breadth. We will all miss him dearly and he will forever be in my thoughts. Bill Bradley Please share your memories of Hal and condolences with his family by selecting the ""Sign Guestbook"" link.