Mable Grimes Bradley Obituary

Mable Grimes Bradley

January 4, 1935 – 

December 30, 2016

   Mable Bradley passed away in Dallas, Texas after a lengthy battle with dementia.  She was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1935,

the only child of Edwin M. “Beatty” and Carrie Mae Gillespie Grimes.

   The family moved to Cleveland, Texas in 1938 and then to Eastland, Texas in 1944.  Mable graduated from Eastland High School in 1953,

where she was Football Sweetheart and a member of the Co-Ed Club.

   After graduation, Mable enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin where she was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority.  She was a nominee

for Most Beautiful of the University of Texas in 1954.

   In the fall of 1955, after a blind date with Bill Bradley they became college sweethearts.  They married the following September in the town of

Cleveland, Texas where Mable’s parents resided at the time.

   In 1957 their first child, Carrie Kay, was born in Franklin, Louisiana.  In 1960 they moved to Jacksonville, Florida where their son Coleman was born.

   Wanting to return to Texas, Bill got a job in Dallas where they resided for the following 55 years.

   Mable’s life focus was her family and her pets.  She was a devoted wife and mother, revolving all her activities around family and home.

   In 1967 she joined the Northwood Hills Parent-Teacher Association where she served as president and eventually worked with the state PTA Board. 

She was awarded a Life Time Membership in the PTA of Texas.  Mable was also a long-time member of the Northwood Women’s Club.  Her homes were

featured in three of the club’s annual Christmas Tours.  She was a founding member of the Annual Tri Delta Antique Show in Dallas and became an avid

collector of fine antiques for her and her family’s homes.  A member of Spring Valley Methodist Church for 45 years, she served in many capacities including

the design and creation of a Bride’s Room for church weddings.

   In the late 1990’s her two granddaughters, Kendyl and McKayla, were born and they became “the apples of her eye.”  She enjoyed wonderful times with them

over the past fifteen years.

   In the early 2000’s, Mable and Bill became “Angel Investors” and devoted their time, energy and financial resources to restoration and civic projects in Eastland, Texas. 

Among their many projects were the restoration of the historic Connellee Hotel and its Roof Garden. The social hub of the 1940’s and 1950’s, today it serves as

a modern-day civic center.  They also renovated the Eastland County Historical Society site (the original First National Bank Building) along with other memorial

projects including the Grimes Memorial Garden and the reconstruction of the Eastland Water Park.

   Mable is survived by her husband of 60 years, Bill Bradley; her daughter and son-in-law Carrie and Bob Crudup of Dallas; her son Coleman,

his wife Debbie and their daughters Kendyl and McKayla of Cornelius, NC.   She is also survived by her cousin, Pearson Grimes of Houston, TX

and her life-long friend, Marion West Gist, of Cypress, TX.

   There will be a private family service at a later date.  

   Honoring her love of Eastland, donations may be made in her memory to the Eastland Community Foundation at www.eastlandfoundation.com.