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Lucinda MILLER 1851-1939 |
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Hampton WERNER 1848-1885 |
Ellen Jane KNIGHT 1839-1899 |
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James Henry BRADFORD 1836-1913 |
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Ida Florence WERNER 1881-1930 |
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Harry Bonnell BRADFORD 1870-1952 |
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Henry Knight BRADFORD 1907-1993 |
His 1926 yearbook photo entry indicates that he was on the Central High School swimming team, and was a member of the Radio Club since 1923. He was on the theater stage crew in 1924. His nickname was "Heinz". The Yearbook indicated that he planned to go to the Bliss Electrical School. However, he and his friend and classmate, Ray Abbaticchio, Jr., decided to attempt a cross-country driving tour in one of four Ford "Model T" cars that Henry had been collecting and outfitting. They worked their way across the country doing odd jobs, and bumping along dirt roads, until they reached the Great Salt Flats of Utah. From there, they saw few opportunities for odd jobs in the deserts of Nevada, so they began their return trip to Washington DC. This trip left him with a lifetime of stories to entertain his children and friends, but unfortunately, were not written down or recorded. In the fall of 1927 Henry attended George Washington University. He was probably following the footsteps of his older brother (by two years), William "Bill" Werner Bradford.
The untimely death of his mother, Ida Florence*, in 1930, from a condition described as a "rheumatic heart" condition, upset the continuation of college studies for Henry and his brother, Bill. Neither graduated from George Washington University, although Bill entered his senior year, and Henry, years afterward, received an "Associate" diploma for two years of course work. Each had apparently assumed that they could pick up from where they had left at some later date, but the urgency of their need for work, and the onset of the great depression resulted in a change of plans. Henry relied heavily upon his knowledge of radio, which was largely self-acquired from his early youth, learned prior to, and during high school. He was a Amateur Radio Operator, and an early member of the Washington DC Radio Club, the first such club in the world. He was associated with the Institute of Radio Engineers since 1929. He and several others were among the founders of the National Radio Institute (NRI) chapter in Washington DC. Although originally founded in Pittsburgh PA as an organization that would teach radio technology - using the radio, the Washington DC chapter became the headquarters and NRI became a thriving mail-order operation. During the depression, NRI changed hands several times, and at this time (1997) it is a wholly owned subsidiary of McGraw Hill, the New York technical book and textbook publisher. Henry wrote many of NRI's courses on radio technology in its earliest days, learning as fast as he was teaching. Upon reflection, he often commented that the pace of progress in radio, television, and electronics technology was faster than any university could handle, so that his lack of formal education was not a significant deterrent to his success until long after World War II.
During the depression, Henry took many odd jobs, including serving as a hotel bellboy, radio repair work, and he performed acting roles in theatrical performances to supplement his income from writing material for radio technology courses, in which enrollments had declined. Despite the hard times, he always managed to be employed, and was sufficiently prosperous in 1937 to take on the responsibilities of marriage and forming a family.
On March 14, 1937 he married Laura Battle Verner* in Georgetown, Washington DC, and purchased a home in Takoma Park MD.
Early in 1941, his knowledge of radio and electronics landed Henry a position as a radio engineer at the Bendix Radio Company in Baltimore MD. His skills on the job advanced rapidly and he became known for his knowledge of radio controls during the War effort. He was awarded several patents and was promoted to the rank of senior engineer as he accepted a position at the Martin Aircraft Company. His knowledge of electronic and radio controls was instrumental in the design of the Matador Missile, which was the first radio controlled missile used by the allies against Germany in the war effort.
In 1947, he built a home television set with parts designed for an oscilloscope, and received the first commercial TV broadcast in Baltimore. A house full of astonished neighbors and other guests were treated to a live advertisement by the National Beer Company, with young ladies dancing across the seven inch, pale green screen, dressed in beer cans.
By 1950, Henry had returned to the Washington DC area, to pursue a change of career into defense electronics with the Navy Department which lasted only a few years during the Korean War. Following that, he served as an engineer for several companies in Alexandria VA, and with several others, founded a small company, Republic Engineering, Inc., based on a patent he held on an "impedance bridge". This small company was sold at an early stage in its development. Then he joined a contract engineering firm serving the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the mid-1960s. Under NASA contracts he taught a short course in geometric circuit design, a method of his own invention that he had developed over years of practice, and published in various trade magazines.
He received a brass plaque "In appreciation of significant contributions to the design and development of sounding rocket control systems 1964-1972" from the Goddard Space Flight Center, Attitude Control & Stabilization Branch. In May, 1969, his electronic control circuit, previously used for the Matador Missile, was adapted using newly developed transistors for application in the Apollo Program. He developed this at Goddard in time for the famous manned Moon landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969, and received a small plaque, honoring him for his achievement.
Henry retired from contracting with NASA in 1978, and lived comfortably in Fairfax VA on investment income and a modest pension from the Martin Marietta Corporation, until his wife died in 1989. Shortly thereafter, he moved to a home for "active seniors" at Hayward CA, where he enjoyed a vigorous social life until he died of Parkinson's disease in 1993.