Patricia Lea Goheen Bradley

Patricia Lea Goheen Bradley left this world on Thursday, April 2, 2009, from Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem. She was 89 years old. She had a full life, born in Sangli, India, the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries. Until age 15 she lived in India and attended Kodaikanal International School. She continued her education in the United States, later graduating from Wooster College in Massachusetts and earning a master's degree in nutrition from NJ College for Women, now Rutgers University. At the end of World War II, she married Harris Walton Bradley and they settled in Wilmington, Delaware, where three of their children were born, John Harris, Lea Kathryn, and Frank Goheen. In 1958, the family moved to Richmond, Virginia, where their fourth child, David Walton, was born. In 1962, they moved to Mount Airy. Later, Harris was the founder and president of North Carolina Foam Industries. Patricia, also known as Pat, was active in the civil rights movement as a member of the Good Neighbor Council. In 1973, she accepted the Baha'i Faith and her home became a focal point of local and regional activities. She went to the island of San Salvador as a Baha'i travel teacher and visited the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel. In the 1990s, she lived in Memphis, Tennessee, where she wrote and published her autobiography, The Colors of My Life. She returned to Mount Airy in 2000 and resided in Renfro Lofts until August 2007. During her active years, she worked as a dietician, a restaurant owner, homecare giver and journalist. In the last decade of her life, she contributed regular articles to The Mount Airy News on "Interesting People I Have Met - in and around Mount Airy." She is survived by her sister, Mary Goheen Jeyes of Vancouver, Canada; her brother, Andrew C. Goheen of Cleveland, OH; her four children, John, Lea, Frank, and David; seven grandchildren, Badi, Razi, Zayn, Rachel, Cameron, Brooke, and Kate; and two great-grandchildren, Harris and Paloma Bradley. The funeral service will be held Saturday, April 4, 2009, at 11:00 AM at Moody Funeral Home Chapel in Mount Airy. The family will greet friends Saturday from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the funeral home. Burail will follow at Skyline Memory Gardens. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, 101 Hospice Lane, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.