If it’s true that women hold up the sky, then Navan has two fewer sets of hands to do so above the small east end village after the passing of Joyce and Gwen Bradley. The two women passed away just five days apart after moving into the May Court Hospice facility in Old Ottawa South last month.

Joyce Bradley was 95 years old while Gwen Bradley was 91.

The two women were related by marriage, but they were bonded by their strong love affair with the village they called home and their fellow Navan residents including fellow matriarchs Mary Dashney, who passed away in 2020, Verna Cotton, who died in 2019, Catherine Hyde, who passed away in 2018, and Helen Burns, who died in 2012. I had the distinct honour of knowing them all.

Joyce Bradley, whose maiden name was Widenmaier, was married to Lorne Bradley who founded the M.L. Bradley school bus service in 1965. Gwen Bradley, whose maiden name was Tapscott, was married to Lorne’s brother Ross Bradley.

Lorne passed away in 1991 at the age of 62. Ross, who is another life-long community builder and who could often be found helping his son John at J.T. Bradley’s Country Convenience Store until it was sold, is still alive at the tender age of 93.

Joyce Bradley was a school teacher for most of her adult life until her retirement, after which she became deeply involved in the ongoings at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Navan for the next 20-plus years.

She also served as a Sunday school teacher and choir master and she cooked for turkey suppers, strawberry teas and bazaars. In fact, she was famous for her buns and butterscotch pies.

She was an active member of the Navan Women’s Institute and the Anglican Church Women’s group. She fed breakfast from the church booth at the Navan Fair for years and taught 4H.

In her spare time, not that she had much, she helped her husband in his activities in running the school bus service and as a founding member of the Navan Lions Club. She also helped with the Navan Fair and different fundraising campaigns for the Navan Curling Club, the Navan Cenotaph and the St. Mary’s Church restoration.

Back in 2009, when I was managing O’Meara’s restaurant in the old Navan feed mill, Joyce would often come in just to talk. During those inter-actions, she often said that it was too bad I never met her late husband.

“You would have loved Lorne,” she would say. “You would have gotten along really well.”

I look back on those conversations with great fondness and feel truly blessed that I was able to meet her.

As outgoing as Joyce Bradley was, Gwen Bradley was more of the quieter type, but that didn’t stop her from becoming deeply involved in her community, just like her sister-in-law.

Gwen married Ross Bradley in 1957, after they met while pursuing teaching careers at Carleton University.

Marrying Ross meant moving to Navan, where she joined St. Mary’s Church and was drawn into day-to-day village life.

Gwen was an active member of the Anglican Church Women, a founder of the community Sunday school in Navan, and a volunteer at the public library during which time she was an advocate for the bookmobile. She cherished community work and could often be found working and organizing with her dear friend Mary Dashney.

Gwen is survived by her husband Ross, their children Carol, Heather, Don and John, grandchildren Alex, Jake, Mark, Nick, and Sam, and great-grandson Archer.

Joyce is survived by her children Lorna, Wendy and Kathleen, grandchildren Bradley, Matthew, Daniel, Katie, Michael and Andrew, and great-grandchildren Jamison, Isla, Penny, Lucy, Brooklyn, Charlie, Elodie, Beckett, Pearson, Layla and Landon.