It is with a heavy heart we announce the death of our mother, Norma Bradley, who passed away peacefully at the Mertens House on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026 at the age of 97.
Norma was born on July 10, 1928 in West Hartford, Vt. to Olin Bert Hill and Nellie Gray (Powell) Hill. In 1932, her family moved to a farm in Barnard and started a dairy farm. She attended her elementary school years in a one-room school on the Lakota Road, a short walk from the farm. She attended high school in Woodstock, graduating in 1946.
In early 1946, she attended the Firemen’s Ball at the Masonic Temple and met a young Marine who had returned home from the Pacific, Thomas Bradley. They married in November 1946 and went on to raise five children while living on Maple Street. In 1965, the family bought the farm from her parents and moved to Barnard.
While raising five children, Norma always held a job outside the home.
One of her first jobs was as a telephone operator — at a time when operators would actually ask what number you wanted. Over her lifetime, she also worked at the Woodstock Inn, the Vermont National Bank, Cabot’s Furniture Store, and Elsa Ross Antiques until retirement in the late 1980s. She was a lifelong member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary.
After retirement, Norma and Tom became snow birds and purchased a home in Plant City. They played golf every day, making dozens of friends from all around the country along the way. After Tom’s death in 2014, Norma moved back to Vermont permanently in 2017. She resided at the Homestead for several years before moving to the Mertens House in 2023.
Norma is survived by her two daughters, Barbara Frizzell (Philip, Jr.) and Jayne Straight (Steve Smith); her two sons Robert Bradley (Diane Wood-Bradley) and Steve Bradley (Nancy Haynes); and her grandchildren James Lewis, Jr., Kristine Urban, Tom Frizzell, Matthew Frizzell, Kate Yeutter, Justin Bradley, Jillian Hackett, and Steven Newcomb; many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her brother-in-law James Lewis.
She was predeceased by her husband, Thomas Bradley, her daughter Karen Lewis, her parents, her sisters Evelyn Hubbard, Dorothy Washburn, and Beverly Lewis, her daughter-in-law Michelle Bradley, and her sons-in-law James Lewis, Sr. and Raymond Straight.
The family would like to thank all the staff at the Homestead and the Mertens House, as well as Bayada, for the kind, exceptional care provided to our mother.
There will be no calling hours. Burial will be at the Veterans Cemetery in Randolph, Vt. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mertens House.
An online guestbook can be found at https://www.cabotfh.com/.
