Ardath Loyd Bradshaw, 94, of Ocilla died on July 3, 2005, at Irwin County Hospital.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 AM Wednesday, July 6, at Ocilla United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Carroll McMillan, officiating. Interment will follow at John B. Paulk Magnolia Cemetery in Irwin County. Visitation will be held from 6 until 7:30 PM on Tuesday, July 5, at the funeral home in Ocilla.
Mrs. Bradshaw was born April 28, 1911 in Fayette County, Georgia to the late Dr. R. Calvin Loyd and Mattie Paulk Loyd. A former English and French teacher, Instructional Supervisor and School Administrator, Mrs. Bradshaw attended one-room schools in Fayette and Bacon Counties before graduating from Georgia State College for Women in Milledgevcille. She held a Masters Degree in English from Mercer University and a Six-Year Education Specialist Degree from the University of Georgia. In the early 1950's, Mrs. Bradshaw was among a small group of master Teachers selected to receive grants to attend the University of Georgia and become the first Instructional Supervisors certified in Georgia. This select group was taught by Dr. Johynne V. Cox and later became affectionately known as "Johynne's first class." After completion of their academic courseword, they were disbursed to several key school systems throughout the state for internships in Instructional Supervision. In 1953, following an internship in the Carroll County School System, Mrs. Bradshaw was hired as Instructional Supervisor and later appointed Curriculum Director. She served the Carroll County School System for 15 years before taking a similar post of Director of Curriculum in the Berrien County Schools, where she worked until retirement. After retirement from the public schools, Mrs. Bradshaw moved to Ocilla and joined the University System of Georgia as an Instructor, teaching freshman English at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton, an accomplished pianist, she played at the Sunday morning services of the Ocilla United Methodist Church and taught private piano lessons to elementary and high school students until she was in her eighties. Professionally, she held numerous district and state offices in the Georgia Education Association, the Georgia Association Curriculum and Instructional Supervision and the Georgia Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. She served on Advisory Committees for the State Board of Education, the Department of Curriculum and Supervision at the University of Georgia, and the School of Education of West Georgia College. She was also active in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Accrediting Program.
Mrs. Bradshaw was a member of the Nathaniel Abney Chapter Of The Daughters Of The American Revolution, the Ben Hill Chapter Of The United Daughters Of The Confederacy, a life member of the Georgia Retired Teachers Association, the Beta Pi Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society and was active in the Ocilla United Methodist Church.
Mrs. Bradshaw is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Harriet Bradshaw of Peachtree City, Georgia and granddaughter, Kathryn Loyd Bradshaw of Peachtree City, and sister, Izora Thomas of Ocilla; nieces, Jewelee Thomas and Charles and Tamara Dennis. Mrs. Bradshaw was preceded in death by her husband, Woodfin Eugene Bradshaw.