Letter to the Editor

Today, October 30, 2012, is both the most difficult and wonderful day of my life. It is my brother’s first birthday since he passed away on May 1.

It is difficult because I miss him so much, but it is wonderful because I know the kind of man he was. He brought joy to everyone who knew him in his lifetime.

He had just as many white friends (he was an African American) as he did black friends. He was simply known to everyone as “Boosie.” His real name was Lyndon Bradford. This is my way of telling him “Happy Birthday, brother.”

And it is also my way of just telling everyone out there that if you think a loved one, or even a friend is sick in any way, go check on him or her.

Don’t use the phone, because nine times out of 10, he or she will say “no.” Just looking back at my brother’s situation, if only my sister, brother or I could have known. But we just didn’t know.

As I held my brother’s hands and talked to him while he was dying in the intensive care unit at Oxford, I just remembered the kind of man he was.

I had an accident after blanking out while driving the Saturday before he died. As the police officers and others were checking on me after I came back to, Boosie was there standing over me making sure his younger brother was all right. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was in pain at that moment. That’s how he was.

He was at home and he heard that I had an accident, but he overcame his own pain to check on me. I know a lot of people out there remember the Water Valley tornado that took place in the spring of 1984. Well, I remember it as the “Pope tornado.”

It not only destroyed Water Valley, but it then came to Pope. We were staying in Pope on Nelson Spur Road, located just off Hwy. 51 about a mile and a half before the Yalobusha County line.

Boosie and I were both teenagers. We were at home with our mother, sister and another friend. We heard this roaring noise. We knew it was more than a thunderstorm. It was a wooden house that we lived in. The wind got stronger and stronger.

I panicked. There was a big 20 foot ditch next to our house. I opened the front door and headed for that ditch. But Boosie pulled me back inside and told me that something would hit me on my head if I go to that ditch.

So I stayed inside. I know looking back that he saved my life. That’s the kind of man he was.

And my brother, your legacy will live on forever. Not only in your own daughter, but also in your nieces and nephews.

There was an old 1980’s song called, “Hard Habit to Break.” Its lyrics include, “you never know what you got until it’s gone. Being without you takes a lot of getting used to.” I keep thinking of Michael Jackson’s “Gone Too Soon.”

Boosie would have only been 46 today. There will be a lot of tears today not only from us family members, but also from friends and I know that I speak for everyone when I say that we won’t be crying because we feel sorry for you, but we will be crying for ourselves.

And finally, thanks to “Sweetie” for being there and loving my brother until he closed his eyes for good. And thanks to his best friend, Rusty Woods, for volunteering to buy him a tombstone. Happy birthday, Boosie.

I just want you to call me again on Sundays and ask “Bobby Ray, do the Steelers come on TV today?”

“Six-9” Bobby Bradford