Manual High School - Thunderbolt Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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Mr. Charles A. Bradley HE year of 1928 will be a memorable one in lVlanual's history, for it is marked by the retirement of her Hrst principal, Mr. Charles A. Bradley. Never before has there been such a change at llflanual. Teachers and pupils have come and gone and left the school unchanged, but lylanual without Mr. Bradley can hardly be imagined. He was, one might almost say, the founder of the school, for he was a great believer in the educational value of manual training when that idea was in its infancy and when this first Manual Training High School in Denver was established, some- what as an experiment, he was put in charge of it and carried it to the pinnacle of success. Manual training is no longer an experiment. Every school in town has its manual training department now, so that Manual no longer stands apart from the others. Previous to his life as a teacher, lylr. Bradley had attained the rank of lwajor in the United States Army, having been a VVest Point graduate. He was stationed at Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the time that General Lew Wallace was Governor of that Territory, and was well acquainted with the celebrated author of Ben Hur. Pioneer days and border tales are no dream to Mr. Bradley, he has experienced the real thing. When he left New lylexico he went to Toledo, Ohio, to teach for a year. After this he taught two years in the high school at Adrian, lylichigan. He then came to Denver in 1883, where he began his teaching career as an instructor in mathematics and science at East Denver High School. ln 1891 he was made vice-principal of the new Manual Training High School, where he has remained ever since. His resig- nation will bring to a close one of the longest records of service in the Denver schools. Mr. Bradley is a quiet man, but of great reserve force. So modest is he that few people know that he is an artist of no mean ability, and that in music his taste is above the average. The better one knows him the better one likes him. He has been a true friend to both teachers and pupils. To express Httingly our appreciation of him is a difficult thing to do. Perhaps it cannot be better done than by quoting from an article written by llfliss Atkins: ln every trying situation he has seemed a tower of strength. His example in the performance of his duties is one which we all might well follow. From day to day he has shown a wonderful discrimination and appreciation of values, recognizing which things should be treated as trivial and concentrating his energy on those which are really important in the building of boys and girls into the finest types of men and women. When each of us has finished his particular job, he may indeed count himself worthy if he has lived up to the example set by our beloved leaderf' His resignation came as a great shock to everyone. There were few dry eyes among the faculty at Manual on the daywhen his retirement was announced, but our grief at parting should be somewhat mitigated by the thought that Mr. Bradley may now enjoy that freedom from responsibility and rest from his arduous labors that his long years of service so richly deserve. Page Six

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