CHARLES C. BRADLEY

Charles Crane Bradley was born November 1, 1911 in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Harold Cornelius Bradley, was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and his mother, Mary Josephine (Crane) Bradley, a descendant of Richard Teller Crane, founder of the Crane plumbing company. Bradley’s older sister died in childhood, leaving Charles the eldest of seven boys. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.

In 1920, Bradley accompanied his grandfather on a year-long trip to China, where he developed a fascination with acrobatics and learned to perform a number of difficult stunts. Upon his return, Bradley’s father introduced him to skiing. Bradley graduated from Brewster Academy, a private prep school in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Believing that he was not yet ready for college, Bradley worked for about 18 months on a ranch in Montana. When he entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Bradley studied agriculture and received a Bachelor’s degree in Geology in 1935. Later, he attended the Clarence H. White School of Photography in New York City to study photography. Partnering with a friend, he opened a photography business in Madison.

Knowing that war was imminent, Bradley enlisted in the Army July 3, 1941 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although he expected to become a pilot, aerial mapmaker or mountain climber, he was disappointed to receive an assignment to a medical replacement unit at Camp Grant, Illinois. With his father’s help, Bradley transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington to join the newly-formed ski troops. He was assigned to the Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, which later formed part of the 10th Mountain Division.

Selected for officer training, Bradley was discharged with the rank of staff sergeant in order to accept a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at Fort Benning, Georgia November 20, 1942. Bradley also married Mary Maynard “Maynie” Riggs in November 1942 and the couple moved to Camp Hale, Colorado, where Bradley taught recruits to ski. While at Camp Hale, Bradley was part of the Mountain Training Group and the 10th Mountain Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop, both of which directed the early training for the Division.

From June 1944 to October 1945, Bradley served as an instructor at the North Pacific Combat School in the Aleutian Islands. This unit was primarily responsible to train troops for the eventual invasion of Japan. Bradley left the Army April 15, 1946 with the rank of Captain.

After the war, Bradley returned to the University of Wisconsin at Madison to earn graduate degrees in Geology. He received his Master of Science degree in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1950. He then became Dean of the Geology Department at Montana State College at Bozeman.

Bradley’s wife “Maynie” passed away in 1969. Bradley then married Adelena Leopold Elder, better known as Nina, in August 1971.

During his academic career, Bradley’s research included work with snow and avalanches, as well as groundwater studies. He was concerned with human impacts on the environment and was a founder of the Montana Wilderness Association.

Bradley retired from teaching and administration in 1976 and moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin to become active in environmental research and education at the Leopold Memorial Reserve there. He wrote articles for the popular press on the outdoors, ecology and the environment, as well as his interactions with Aldo Leopold. In 1988, Charles and Nina Leopold Bradley were given a joint honorary Doctor of Environmental Studies degree from the University of Wisconsin. In 2000, Charles received a Distinguished Alumni award from the Department of Geology and Geophysics. He died May 18, 2002 at age 91.