Joseph Bradac

Dr. Joseph G. Bradac, 94, of Mt. Pleasant, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, at Woodland Hospice. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church with Father Thomas J. McNamara presiding. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Charles R. Lux Family Funeral Home, 2300 S. Lincoln Rd., on Friday from 2-5 and 6-8 p.m. Visitation continues at the church on Saturday one hour prior to Mass. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sacred Heart Parish or Woodland Hospice. Envelopes are available at the funeral home. Joe was born July 9, 1915, in Marmarth, North Dakota, the son of Alois and Marie (Repova) Bradac. His parents were from what is now known as the Czech Republic and homesteaded in the badlands of S.W. North Dakota in the early 1900s. Joe attended a one-room school that originally met at the Bradac home. He graduated from Teachers College in Dickinson, ND in 1937, and later attended Montana State College. He spent many years teaching at rural schoolhouses on the plains of North Dakota. An Army veteran, Joe served in the North African, Mediterranean, and European Theatres from 1942-1945. He earned four battle stars and a bronze arrowhead and is a life member of the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Upon the conclusion of World War II, Joe returned to North Dakota and finished his education on the G.I. Bill. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks with a BS degree in 1947 and a Masters degree in 1948. His doctorate was earned from the University of Michigan in 1952. Joe met Mary Marinelli, a librarian at the University of North Dakota, and they married on March 29, 1948, in Hibbing, MN. Joe taught at the University of Missouri in Columbia and the University of Buffalo in New York. In 1953 he came to Mt. Pleasant where he was employed by Central Michigan University as a professor of geography until his retirement in 1980. He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and a third degree member of the Knights of Columbus. During his 32 year teaching career he served on numerous educational and geographic professional organizations. He initiated the first geography travel course at CMU. Joe and Mary traveled the world extensively after retirement. He enjoyed photography, flower gardening, and collecting maps, rocks, and coins. Joe is survived by his children, Jane (William) Hamilton of Rosebush and John (Sue) Bradac of Mt. Pleasant; three grandchildren, JJ Bradac of Howell, Allison Bradac of Mt. Pleasant, and Gwynne Hamilton of Traverse City; one great-grandson, Cooper; two sisters-in-law, Evelyn Bradac of Great Falls, MO and Trudy Bradac of Marmarth, ND; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary in 2000; one sister, Mary Cate; and three brothers, Louie, Henry, and Frank Bradac.