1915 – 2014

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Norma Bradford died on Saturday, June 7, at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn. She was 99 years old.

Born on March 19, 1915, in Wayne, she was a daughter of Frank Bradford and Marguerite Sutcliffe. At age 6, her family moved to Auburn, where she graduated from Edward Little High School and the Maine School of Commerce.

She began a career with the federal government in 1935, when she went to work for the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. Toward the end of the 1930s, the Treasury Department moved some its offices to New York City and she was transferred there. She was secretary to an attorney in the appellate division of the Internal Revenue Service, until World War II, when she signed on with the WAVES.

She was in the very first group of WAVES and was sent to Madison, Wis., for training. From there, in 1943, she was sent to the naval air station in Seattle, Wash., where she earned the rank of Radioman Second Class. She was one of eight women picked to go overseas and relieve a man for sea duty. She ended up in Hawaii, where she remained until 1945, when the war ended.

She returned to her old job with the IRS, until she retired in 1970 and moved to her home in Old Saybrook, Conn. During her years in New York, she managed to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University.

Settling into retirement, she became a volunteer in the Literacy Group and the Chamber of Commerce Tourist’s Bureau. She was active at Grace Church, where she was in charge of food donations for the Shoreline Soup Kitchen for many years. She belonged to the Old Saybrook Woman’s Club and the Wing Family of America in Sandwich, Mass., of which she was co-historian for five years.

She is survived by two sisters, Florence “Pat” Davis of Old Saybrook, Conn., and Dorothy Reed of Wellesley, Mass.; a brother, Frank Tarrio of Guilford, Conn.; and many cherished and loving nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by four sisters, May Schlapak, Louise Wilson, Nell and Alice Bradford.