REMEMBERING BIG BROTHER BUD

My older brother Raymond was born December 16, 1948 and today would have been his 72nd birthday. When I was a little guy and just learning how to talk, I could not pronounce Raymond, so our parents came up with the nickname "Bud" because I could handle that. He's been known as Bud to the family ever since, though most of his friends throughout his life called him Ray or Brad (short for our last name of Bradford). Unfortunately for me and my siblings, Bud passed away November 20 of COVID. He went into Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Michigan on Monday 11/16, the hospital arranged a group Facetime call for Tuesday 11/17. Technology being what it is, we never really had the "video" part of the call, just the audio. I was able to see my younger brother John at the beginning of the call, I saw Bud's hospital room wall and ceiling, but never saw him, and I only heard my sister Mary. Be that as it was, we were able to have the group call and all got to talk to each other. Mary called me Thursday 11/19 and told me that he had improved during the week and was fighting the disease. Friday morning happened very quickly as he started going downhill and died within a couple of hours. Mary called me later that morning (my time) to give me the news. It did come as a bit of a shock based on what I had just heard the day before. The soothing part to the three of us was that we knew he was no longer suffering.

Bud was a fun-loving guy, and was even named "Class Clown" during his 1967 Senior year mock elections that many high schools go through. His Senior class performed the play "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and if it had been done on Broadway, he would have earned a Tony as Best Featured Actor (Featured Actor is the equivalent of the Academy Awards "Best Supporting Actor"), as he stole the show. Absolutely hilarious. He knew beforehand that when he first appeared on stage that the audience would laugh uproariously--they did! He was wearing an orange pageboy-style wig along with a dark turquoise tunic and black tights.

He was also an accomplished bowler and golfer. For many summers running in the early 1970s, he, John and I would hold the "Bradford Masters" golf tournament. John and I always pulled for each other because as long as one of us beat big brother Bud, it was fine with us. Bud won most of the matches but I do remember John winning at least one of them. We would go to a different course each year, as there were multiple courses in the Traverse City area. Later in life, he became a huge hydroplane boat racing fan, assisting Team Thirlby (Uncle Ed and Aunt Bev) and even racing some of the boats himself.

I wanted to insert a photo here of me and my siblings but I keep getting an error message saying the server rejected it. The photo was taken at my sister's house after Mom's funeral, which is the last time I saw Bud. Disappointed it's not working but I'll keep trying.

I'm sure that Bud is enjoying his birthday as he's with Mom and Dad. R.I.P. Big Brother. I love you.