Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25: 34-40

Of the many lives lost in the midst of the Great Pandemic of 2020, there was one soul the coronavirus did not claim. On July 19, 2020, Winifred Ruth Smith Bradford died peacefully at home, just two years short of a century marked by love and service. The Skagit Valley is a poorer place for her absence, but enriched by her legacy. If anyone can be said to have lived into the gospel message of Matthew, that person was Winnie Bradford.

Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “Youth is wasted on the young.” That saying came to mind the first time I met Winnie at a Skagit Habitat for Humanity function a few years ago which she attended along with her life partner and soulmate, Lester — both of whom were well into their 90s at the time. Despite her age, there was a vibrancy about Winnie that first struck me in her smile and manifest delight in life. When you think of all the lives she ushered into this world — a world ennobled by her presence — that delight was well earned.

Winifred Ruth Smith Bradford was born October 20, 1922 in Enid, Oklahoma to Walter and Alice (McNeely) Smith. She put herself through York College and medical school, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and became one of the first women to graduate from the University of Nebraska School of Medicine. At a time in American history when women had only recently won the right to vote, and the title “doctor” was almost exclusively followed by a man’s name, she planned on becoming a medical missionary to China — which is why she  subsequently went to Yale to study Chinese. It was there she met her future husband, Lester Bradford. 

Geopolitical events closed China to missionaries, and as a result Winnie was redirected to Red Bird Mission in Kentucky and then to the African country of Sierra Leone, where after maintaining her relationship with Lester through letters (there was once a time when we used ink and paper to communicate over distances), which is where he joined her in marriage on December 23, 1952. During their 16 years of service in Sierra Leone, Winnie delivered thousands of babies and treated thousands of children. And it was here that their five children were born.

Winnie treats a patient at Red Bird Mission in Kentucky

On returning to the U.S., Winnie did a second residency at Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital in Baton Rouge. Lester’s career eventually brought them to Mount Vernon, where Winnie got back into the baby business, performing home births and founding the Mount Vernon Birth Center. Her compassionate approach to birthing revolutionized the whole birth industry in Skagit County.

After her “retirement” from the birth center, she joined Lester for further overseas assignments in South Sudan and Pakistan, continuing her medical work there.

Winnie was an active volunteer her entire life. She was a deacon for Mt. Vernon’s First United Methodist Church (where she also sang in the choir and rang in the bell choir). She did respite care with Hospice for 18 years. Skagit Adult Day Care named the Bradford House after her in recognition of her work, and every year she helped people prepare taxes through the AARP. Most recently, her favorite project was Skagit County’s Family Promise.

Winnie Bradford was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 70 years and her son Joel, and is survived by her children, Dorcas Bouey, Julie Guyette, Ethan Bradford, and Grace Skidmore. Included among her progeny are 13 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, as well as her sister Mary Williams and numerous nieces, nephews, in-laws, and special friends.

While the preceding cursory narrative is drawn from Winnie’s obituary, you can take a deeper dive into a life without walls through her memoirs, “A Life Remembered,” which was published just a few years ago. If the headlines of the day are getting you down and causing you to lose your faith in humanity, I highly recommend that you spend some time with the story of Winifred Ruth Smith Bradford. Your soul will be lighter for it.

Donations in Winifred’s memory may be made to the Sherbro Foundation (www.sherbrofoundation.org) to fund scholarships for nurses continuing Winnie’s work in Sierra Leone.