On Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 10:45am, our lives changed. Theron Michael Bradley Jr., Kim's stepdad, finished his race and battle with brain cancer. He was diagnosed with the disease in early March 2006 at which time the doctors gave him only a year to live. He fought well and lasted 18 months. He was a very special person to both Kim and I. He was kind, generous, patient, incredibly intelligent and very funny. You always had a good time around Theron. There are so many memories I have of him - too many to list here, but I'll include a couple.
It's because of Theron that I am such an Apple lover now. He sent us our first Apple computer in 1997. A ripping fast (lol) Apple MacIntosh 7200/90. When we tried to get connected to the internet using Boone Online, we encountered some problems. We loaded all the software that Boone Online had supplied us to enable us to go online, but our computer kept freezing up every time we tried to log in. To make matters worse, Boone Online's resident Mac expert was on vacation that week and there was no one else to help us. So I called Theron, our "friendly Apple tech support" as he liked to call himself. He spent probably 4 or 5 evenings (after working nearly 12 hours at "the site") engrossed in discovering the culprit behind our computer gremlins. Turns out that Boone Online's software loaded a version of PPP that our computer didn't like. I would never have discovered this problem on my own, but Theron would not rest until he figured out what the problem was. He took this approach to nearly everything he did.
Theron was a very intelligent man. He knew something about everything. You didn't dare challenge him to a game of Jeopardy - you would lose, big time! He knew alot of geological facts about Yellowstone National Park. We've visited the park with Theron on several occasions. He used to love giving us tours and information about the different areas of the park that we passed through. He held degrees in Math, Physics, Nuclear Engineering and Law. He worked for the Navy and the US Government for 30 years, designing nuclear powerplants for aircraft carriers and submarines and overseeing nuclear facilities in Idaho. He was NASA's Chief Engineer (THE Chief Engineer) from 2002 to 2004. However, through all of this he was humble. He never once made me feel inferior to him on any level. He was a great example to me on how to treat others.
I'm really going to miss Theron. He was a believer in Jesus, His death and resurrection. It was a great source of joy for me to know that Theron was a top scientist in his field and yet still had faith in Jesus. Too often, these two positions are mutually exclusive. I know that one day I'm going to see Theron again. I think he's probably in heaven now learning about all the cool sites and landmarks (such as they are) so that when we get there, he can give us a tour. I look forward to that day.
