Ethel Bradley

After 47 years of marriage, Ethel Bradley never imagined that life with the workaholic mayor would come to this: She is lucky to share dinner with her husband one evening a week. She usually is asleep when Tom Bradley arrives home at the end of a typical 17-hour workday. She keeps track of the mayor's career by viewing the late-afternoon news. "I didn't realize it, but I guess the best years of my life were the years we spent together before he was an elected official," said Mrs.

Funeral services for Ethel Bradley, the first lady of Los Angeles for 20 years as the wife of Tom Bradley, the city's first black mayor, will be held Dec. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2270 S. Harvard Blvd. A viewing will be held Thursday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Angelus Funeral Home, 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd. Bradley, 89, died of pneumonia Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.

Funeral services for Ethel Bradley, the first lady of Los Angeles for 20 years as the wife of Tom Bradley, the city's first black mayor, will be held Dec. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2270 S. Harvard Blvd. A viewing will be held Thursday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Angelus Funeral Home, 3875 S. Crenshaw Blvd. Bradley, 89, died of pneumonia Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.

Ethel Bradley, who was the longest-reigning first lady of Los Angeles as the wife of the city's first black mayor, Tom Bradley, has died. She was 89. Bradley, whose husband held office from 1973 to 1993, died Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. The cause of death was pneumonia, said Bee Canterbury Lavery, who was Tom Bradley's protocol chief.

The Queen Anne chair in the living room of the mayor's mansion is stately but uncomfortable. Ethel Bradley sits in it, fidgeting. Even the nylon in her pink and purple jogging suit seems to be complaining. There is not much in this cold and cavernous room that bears the mark of the city's longest-reigning First Lady, not the sea-foam green drapes, not the gloomy portraits on loan from the county art museum, not the mismatched antique tables picked out by a decorator she never really liked.

Mayor Tom Bradley returned to Los Angeles from Seoul on Tuesday after the death of his wife's sister, Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said. Funeral services will be held today at Angelus Funeral Home for Maggie Arnold, the sister of Ethel Bradley. Bradley left Los Angeles last Thursday for South Korea, accompanied by two staff members, to attend the Olympics and conduct trade business for the city. He had been scheduled to return Saturday.

"The mayor is too strong a man, too big a fighter. He would never quit. He is not a person who would lie down like (Jim) Wright." --Ethel Bradley, the mayor's wife, speaking of her husband's determination to remain in office despite the controversy surrounding some of his financial dealings.

The wonderful piece on Ethel Bradley and her 200-plus hat collection ("Royal Splendor," by Emory Holmes II, Metropolis, March 28) reminds me of the women of color in New Orleans during the Civil War who were ordered to wear tignons, or head coverings, under threat of arrest. What started as badges of dishonor became things of beauty when they decorated them with feathers and bows. Esther B. Hugo Manhattan Beach

Ethel Bradley, who was the longest-reigning first lady of Los Angeles as the wife of the city's first black mayor, Tom Bradley, has died. She was 89. Bradley, whose husband held office from 1973 to 1993, died Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center. The cause of death was pneumonia, said Bee Canterbury Lavery, who was Tom Bradley's protocol chief.

During nearly 60 years of marriage, Ethel Bradley shared her husband with the city of Los Angeles--his time, his energy, his ideals. Now she is 81 and a widow. But Bradley, who spent 20 years as the city's first lady, is still sharing her husband, his legacy and his remembrances with the public. On Friday, Bradley will donate a large collection of the late Mayor Tom Bradley's personal items to the California African American Museum.

The wonderful piece on Ethel Bradley and her 200-plus hat collection ("Royal Splendor," by Emory Holmes II, Metropolis, March 28) reminds me of the women of color in New Orleans during the Civil War who were ordered to wear tignons, or head coverings, under threat of arrest. What started as badges of dishonor became things of beauty when they decorated them with feathers and bows. Esther B. Hugo Manhattan Beach

During nearly 60 years of marriage, Ethel Bradley shared her husband with the city of Los Angeles--his time, his energy, his ideals. Now she is 81 and a widow. But Bradley, who spent 20 years as the city's first lady, is still sharing her husband, his legacy and his remembrances with the public. On Friday, Bradley will donate a large collection of the late Mayor Tom Bradley's personal items to the California African American Museum.

Former Mayor Tom Bradley was eulogized Monday as a heroic and historic leader who helped build modern Los Angeles, opened the city's political doors to all people and never forgot his roots as a poor boy from rural Texas. Dignitaries including Vice President Al Gore, Gov. Pete Wilson and Mayor Richard Riordan filled a three-hour funeral service with tributes to Bradley's achievements--for his city, for African Americans and for the dispossessed.

A day after suffering a postoperative stroke, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley continued to recuperate at a Hollywood hospital Friday as well-wishers from Mayor Richard Riordan to South African President Nelson Mandela sent their regards. Doctors said that they were pleased that Bradley's condition had stabilized, but that the five-term mayor still had little movement on his right side and could not speak. They said prospects for his recovery are unclear and he remains in serious condition.

The Queen Anne chair in the living room of the mayor's mansion is stately but uncomfortable. Ethel Bradley sits in it, fidgeting. Even the nylon in her pink and purple jogging suit seems to be complaining. There is not much in this cold and cavernous room that bears the mark of the city's longest-reigning First Lady, not the sea-foam green drapes, not the gloomy portraits on loan from the county art museum, not the mismatched antique tables picked out by a decorator she never really liked.

It is a steamy 90 degrees in November. As darkness falls on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, passersby gawk at a street person wrapped in a winter coat and wool hat. He is dancing along the neon-lit boulevard to the pulsating sound of a boombox perched atop his shoulder, unaware that he is about to cross paths with the leading man of Los Angeles. * Impeccably dressed in a dark blue suit, a striking 6-foot, 4-inch figure glides toward his chauffeured Lincoln Town Car.

A day after suffering a postoperative stroke, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley continued to recuperate at a Hollywood hospital Friday as well-wishers from Mayor Richard Riordan to South African President Nelson Mandela sent their regards. Doctors said that they were pleased that Bradley's condition had stabilized, but that the five-term mayor still had little movement on his right side and could not speak. They said prospects for his recovery are unclear and he remains in serious condition.

Former Mayor Tom Bradley was eulogized Monday as a heroic and historic leader who helped build modern Los Angeles, opened the city's political doors to all people and never forgot his roots as a poor boy from rural Texas. Dignitaries including Vice President Al Gore, Gov. Pete Wilson and Mayor Richard Riordan filled a three-hour funeral service with tributes to Bradley's achievements--for his city, for African Americans and for the dispossessed.

Mayor Tom Bradley has lived rent-free for 12 years in a French Colonial mansion owned by the city. Similarly, taxpayers provide Bradley with a chauffeur and other domestic staff and pick up the tab for his utilities, which last year averaged more than $750 a month. Friends and supporters supply the mayor with most of his lunches and dinners, and with his clothes. He receives free tickets to Dodger Stadium--the seats are right behind the home team dugout--and passes to other entertainment events.

While acknowledging that Mayor Tom Bradley has been personally bruised by the controversy over his financial dealings, Ethel Bradley said Thursday that her husband is determined to remain in office regardless of the damage to his political career. "The mayor is too strong a man, too big a fighter," Mrs. Bradley said during an interview. "He would never quit. He is not a person who would lie down like (Jim) Wright," the Texas Democrat who announced Wednesday that he was resigning as Speaker of the House and leaving Congress after a long ethics investigation of his finances.