WARNING:  Beware -- there are websites posing
as Bradford Alumni and/or Bradford High School!

Welcome to the OFFICIAL Kenosha Bradford High School Alumni Association, Inc. (KBHSAA) website!  This is the Alumni Association's ONLY endorsed-official website.  Don't be taken in by organizations purporting to have a connection with our alma mater, which have no connection whatsoever to Bradford High School and our local community in Kenosha, WI.  We encourage all alumni to join KBHSAA. 

From left to right:  The Annex (built in 1890, razed in 1980);
Kenosha High School, later renamed in honor of Mary D. Bradford (completed in 1927); and
Mary D. Bradford High School (opened for the 1979-1980 school year).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KUSD schools were closed effective March 16, at first until April 6 and now, under the "Safer at Home" order signed by WI Governor Tony Evers, our local schools are closed until further notice.  As a result, we have extended the deadline to apply for KBHSAA Scholarships to 2:00PM on Friday, April 24, 2020.  For the most up-to-date information, please visit our Current Scholarship Offerings page.  

Mark your calendar for the annual
DAA Banquet & KBHSAA Scholarship Fund Silent Auction
Saturday, June 27, 2020 at
Kenosha Country Club
The reservation form for this event is available here...
so start “talking it up” amongst your family, friends and classmates
and make plans to attend!  Please visit our
Sneak Peek:  Silent Auction page
...hope you’ll check back often to see the growing list of items going up for bid.

Sending Birthday Wishes!
Please join us in wishing a happy 100th birthday to Eileen Osterberg (Molinaro), Class of 1937.  Her son, Max, writes that she received a letter of congratulations from Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia, PA, and was invited to attend the annual Mayor's Centenarian Celebration held in late May 2019.  The annual event recognizes the contributions of Philadelphia residents who have reached their 100th (or later) birthday.

Question for our membership:
Bill Stanley (1947) writes, "The high school name changed from Kenosha HS to Mary D Bradford HS while I was there.  Even after the name change, the letters I received for participation on the Swim Team remained as a "K".  Do you know what year they converted the letters to a "B"?

We're putting the question out to our membership:  please reach out to us via the Contact Us page, letting us know what year you graduated and whether you received a "K" or "B" for lettering in sports.  Thanks in advance for helping answer this inquiry!

Responses have begun arriving:  Roland "Ron" Krumpos (1957), plus Jerry Barr and Tom Brickley (both 1958), report they received a "K" for lettering in their respective sports.  Just in… Lynn Marchesini Kortright (1969) tells us the change to a "B" occurred in 1966. 

On behalf of KBHSAA and Bill Stanley, thanks to all those who took time to help out with this "project"!

KBHSAA announces 2020 Scholarship Offerings
Today (10/10/2019) we activated our 2020 Scholarship Offerings page:  15 scholarships (a total of $23,957) available for 2020 Bradford seniors.  We encourage those seniors planning to attend a four-year college/university or a two-year technical college to apply.  If you have a child, grandchild or great-grandchild who will graduate from Bradford High School this year, please give them a nudge (or two) about submitting their application.  Deadline for applications is Friday, April 3, 2020.

Mary D. Bradford Stadium
We were pleased to see the number of donated benches at Mary D. Bradford Stadium has grown this year... it's the perfect place to meet members of your group or to have something to eat before a sporting event.  There is still plenty of space if you would like to order a bench in memory of a loved one or if your Class would like to be represented. The benches are available in black (pictured below) or red.  If interested, please email Adam Sulko, Bradford's Interim Principal (asulko@kusd.edu), for more information.

The KBHSAA bench, installed at Bradford Stadium in September 2016.

Looking Forward to 2019-2020
We are already working on articles for the fall edition of the Newsletter, as well as preparing recommendations on 2020 scholarship offerings for KBHSAA Board consideration.  If you may be interested in giving a scholarship in memory of a loved one, please visit our Fund a KBHSAA Scholarship page. 

We are excited to welcome two new KBHSAA Board members:  Adela (Lebron) Hessefort, Class of 1974, and Oliver Debe, Class of 2009. 

Have you been thinking about nominatiing a classmate for consideration for the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award?  The DAA Nomination Form  is now available here, and submissions are due by January 31, 2020.  On our Upcoming Class Reunions webpage, you'll find several "Save the Date" notices for 2020 and beyond.  Please be sure to visit our Upcoming Special Events webpage, which casts a spotlight on Bradford High School fundraisers -- several in the very near future --  and activities.  We also welcome submissions to be posted in support of events involving KBHSAA members.  The For Sale: Spy Yearbooks page has been updated with donations received over the summer.

As always, we encourage Bradford classmates to stay in touch, via this website and individual Class Websites.

Recap:  2019 DAA Banquet & Silent Auction
On Saturday, June 22, Randy Vaccaro (1973), President, welcomed 116 attendees to the annual DAA Banquet & Silent Auction at the Kenosha Country Club.  He introduced the KBHSAA Officers for 2019-2020 and those who serve on the KBHSAA Board, and thanked all of them for their service.  Our Silent Auction saw some bidding wars and when it ended, we raised nearly $2,700 for the KBHSAA Scholarship Fund.  We send Thanks to our Silent Auction Donors whose generosity made the auction possible.

After a delicious meal served by KCC’s attentive wait staff, Joyce Sorensen (1969), Scholarships Chairperson, introduced twelve of the sixteen 2019 Scholarship Recipients to the audience.  We wish them all the best as they set off on their journey in pursuit of a college education.

Alice Schwalbe (1960), Vice President, stepped to the podium to handle introductions for the DAA portion of the event, including recognition of past DAA recipients in attendance.  We were touched by the life stories shared by this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award honorees. 

Michelle Serpe (1967) closed out the event with the traditional Roll Call of Class Years, and Peter Schwalbe (1959) led the audience in singing the Bradford “fight song.”

~ ~ ~ About the KBHSAA ~ ~~