Pat Bradbury
Patty "Pat" Bradbury passed away last month at her daughter’s home in Canton, Georgia. Mrs. Bradbury was one of the first women to manage and operate a downtown Chattanooga business.
Pathway Books, a division of Pathway Press, opened a bookshop around 1968 on Market Street near Miller Brothers and Mrs. Bradbury was named manager. The bookstore was located next to the Orange Juice bar, which had a huge customer base. Mrs. Bradbury said they’d leave her store and go next door for a cold glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. She said she had to have at least one glass a day.
WDOD FM was looking for different programming besides the traditional easy listening orchestras sometimes known as elevator music. Management asked this writer to meet with Mrs. Bradbury who was friends with many of the Southern Gospel artists. A meeting was set up between the young businesswoman and WDOD General Manager Bill Nash, who asked Ms. Bradbury’s opinion about playing Gospel Music on FM.
Ms. Bradbury was excited and immediately said she’d be glad to help in any way possible to get the station some records. Nash asked her about a name for a program, and Pat responded, “Southern Gospel Music has its roots in Campmeetings.” Nash interrupted, “Dixie Campmeeting,” that’s it.
In March, 1969 WDOD FM began a programming adventure that would start a change in Chattanooga radio on the FM dial.
Mrs. Bradbury took this writer to her company’s warehouse in Cleveland, Tn., and gave us several dozen of the latest Southern Gospel albums. Ms. Bradbury than asked, “How much advertising do I get in return?” The station worked out a trade agreement, advertising for LP’s. She even selected the Dixie Campmeeting theme song, “Joy in the Camp,” written by Bill and Gloria Gaither and recorded by the Speer Family.
During a live remote broadcast from her store, Felix Miller with neighboring Miller Brothers visited the shop and congratulated Mrs. Bradbury for being a female pioneer in managing a downtown business. If memory is correct, the department store executive purchased a Bible for a friend. Mrs. Bradbury said Mr. Miller became a regular customer.
Mrs. Bradbury was good friends with Ruth Lanham who operated Lanham’s Bible Bookshop in the Brainerd Village Shopping Center. The two ladies traveled together to several of the Christian Book Sellers Conventions. Mrs. Lanham said Pat Bradbury knew her product better than anyone and she even tried to hire her. Mrs. Bradbury said she liked downtown and her store’s location and was ready to compete with Baptist Bookstore located a few blocks away on Cherry Street.
Pat Bradbury’s career with Pathway Press covered some 35 years from managing the Chattanooga store to marketing director over Pathway’s chain of Christian Bookstores.
Although Mrs. Bradbury enjoyed management, she still mingled among customers at the Cleveland, Tn. location of Pathway Books. Mayor Tom Rowland said when he visited in the store he’d see Pat helping customers.
As host of the daily Gospel music program on WDOD FM, it would have been impossible to have started a new format of Southern Gospel music had it not been for the vision and assistance of Pat Bradbury. One of the first guests was Eva Mae LeFevre (her close friend) of the famous LeFevre Gospel group.
With Mrs. Bradbury’s radio friendships, she arranged two Gospel Music concerts for WDOD FM - Martin Cook and the Inspirations and the Speer Family with both Ben and Brock.
After learning of Mrs. Bradbury’s passing this writer went through a large collection of Gospel LP’s; many came from Pat Bradbury’s Chattanooga store. I found two special recordings by the Downings with Chattanoogan Dickie Mathews playing the piano. The Heart Warming Records are extra special since this writer was present when they were recorded in Nashville, Tn.
Mrs. Bradbury was a good cook and often invited her friends into a back room for lunch at the Market Street store. After retiring from Pathway, She opened Bradbury Catering and fed many people over the years.
This fine Christian lady worked most of her life, but in her spare time enjoyed her loving husband, Richard, two daughters and grandchildren.
This world is a much better place because of people like Mrs. Bradbury. Pattie "Pat" Bradbury was a real friend of Southern Gospel Music and Christian books readers. She never forgot the customers who made Pathway one of the top Christian Bookstores of yesteryear. Under today’s standard, Mrs. Bradbury would have been “a real lady of distinction.”
A visitation and Celebration of Life will be held Saturday at the Dixon Chapel of North Cleveland Church of God.