Isabel Bradbury obituary: Community stalwart with calm determination to help

Isabel Bradbury was among the first women to go out on ambulance calls, which sometimes involved attending fatal accidents, always difficult in rural communities where victims are well-known. She was not only an activist in ambulance service but also a meticulous record-keeper of the Katanning St John Sub Centre history, being responsible for most of the memorabilia kept, regarded with envy by head office and other sub centres, according to current long-serving chair Barbara Groves. Diane Doak, who did 34 years of ambulance service with Isabel, concurred. “When she took over as secretary (1989-2010), she started delving into history. She was not impressed with the missing/inadequate minutes and incomplete reports and determined to get records into order so people could see the changes over the years. Working with her as treasurer was easy because of her recording skills and she was also a sounding board after hard and stressful ambulance call-outs where her calmness was always appreciated.” In mid-2015 Isabel Bradbury became the second non-Rotary recipient to win Katanning’s Paul Harris Fellow award, given sparingly by Rotary clubs to active community members. Isabel emulated her cousin, Mabel Prosser, an initial winner of the award. Isabel’s win came after 43 years of volunteer service with St John Ambulance, retiring two years later. She was also recognised with Katanning’s Citizen of the Year award in 1987, among other honours. The extension of care to the community was what she had shown as a member of a large family. Isabel was born in February 1932 to Harold and Blanche (nee Wilson) Becker as the third-oldest of seven children (Betty, Roy, Gordon, Barbara, Ken and Ian, with only the two oldest brothers surviving her). The Beckers were a respected hard-working family from the small rural village of Woodanilling, just over 25km from Katanning. Her father (like his father, Charles) was a blacksmith in the town, with Harold adding the post office, newsagency and Caltex fuel supply to the family business. While bread and dripping may have been standard fare for many children in urban areas during the 1930s, the Becker children flourished on freshly made bread with jam and cream, courtesy of a large orchard on their property, with apricots being a favourite. Family holidays would be held at Emu Point, Albany, during those hard economic times. Isabel and Betty, Roy and Gordon eventually moved to their grandparents’ home in Subiaco, where Isabel attended Girdlestone High in the city. She later gained work as a typist at Faulding’s. During her younger days Isabel followed a long Becker tradition of playing cricket. Her brother, Gordon, was the first WA wicketkeeper to wear an Australian cap, in the side that toured South Africa in 1966-67. Isabel returned to Woodanilling, aged 22, after the death of her mother, to look after her father and younger siblings Barbara, Ken and Ian. Further tragedy followed, with the dreadful deaths the next year of the two youngest Becker boys (aged nine and eleven) as they rode “double-dinky” on a bike, crossing in front of a car driven by a pastor. Isabel was fortunate at this time to survive a fox-hunting episode with her father. She was saved from falling out of the ute, after hitting a gully, by a young shearer, Clarence (Clarrie) Bradbury. It was the start of a romance. The couple married in January 1957 and four children resulted from the union: Jenny, Christine, Peter and Gary, between 1959 and 1969 (later producing nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren). Isabel looked after the children until Gary attended school, then took on another caring role in a Katanning kindergarten. She was active in sewing and gardening, and was highly regarded as a cake decorator, from cupcakes to wedding cakes. She enjoyed cats. Isabel and Nancy Wake had daughters who were friends (Christine and Caroline) and both involved in local netball, resulting in their supportive mothers becoming firm friends. On one occasion Isabel and Nancy went to Canberra for a Remembrance Day ceremony. They missed the bus back to the hotel, so they decided to hitchhike back, both over 80. Apparently, they were picked up by “some pleasant young people”. Isabel was an important figure in netball as, after being an active participant in her younger years, she was involved in the development and administration of the game in the Great Southern region. Julie Poett remembered her leaving the Katanning Netball Association in great shape. “She helped to get more courts at Prosser Oval with new facilities, including canteen and offices,” she said. “Isabel was softly spoken but very inclusive, being a great encourager of people in various facets of the sport as well as a meticulous organiser of weekly competitions, carnivals and country week. Isabel was a great mentor to me from the first time I met her as a 10-year-old from Nyabing.” She certainly was, because that young girl followed Isabel as a senior player, coach, president, secretary and treasurer of the KNA, and was there to farewell her fellow life member 57 years later. Isabel’s funeral was attended by over 200 people with her adorned casket appropriately preceded by an ambulance complete with a uniformed honour guard from both St John’s and the Katanning Netball Association for their life member. Isabel Blanche Bradbury Ambulance volunteer, netballer Born: Katanning, 1932 Death: Katanning, aged 92