C. Henry Bradley, age 83, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, IL, died Monday, August 18, 2014, at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, IL. He was born December 26, 1930 in Baltimore, MD.

Hank grew up in Baltimore, MD and graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic High School.

He attended Wheaton College and graduated in 1953.  In August of 1952, Hank married Barbara "Bobbi" Brown, a 1952 Wheaton graduate.  In preparation for a missionary career in Bible translation, Hank also completed an M.A. in Biblical Literature at Wheaton.  After completing two semesters of linguistic training offered by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) at the University of Oklahoma, Hank and Bobbi joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and went to Mexico in 1955 to translate the Bible for the Mixtec Indians of southern Mexico.

Over the next 25 years, along with the help of about 15 local Mixtec men, Hank and Bobbi completed the translation of the New Testament into the Jicaltepec dialect of Mixteco.  With the New Testament in their language, the Mixtec church grew from less than a handful of believers to several thousand believers in about 20 or so different congregations, reaching to all the villages where the language is spoken.  The Mixtec church is now well into its third generation of believers.

During this time Hank and Bobbi also did a number of other things related to their work among the Mixtecs.  These included earning advanced degrees in linguistics and anthropology, serving their colleagues in Mexico in a variety of elected and appointed positions, and teaching linguistics and translation skills to aspiring Bible translators each summer at one or another of the Summer Institutes of Linguistics sponsored by Wycliffe.  Hank also taught anthropology at Judson College in Elgin, IL for a period of six years when he and Bobbi needed to be in the US.  After that time Hank was asked to serve as the international anthropology coordinator for Wycliffe and SIL in Dallas, which he did for nine years. He was also asked to help in a special situation in Southeast Asia, which he did for another three years.

In August 1999, several years after Bobbi's diagnosis with leukemia, Hank and Bobbi moved to Wheaton to be near their sons and grandchildren. They retired from active status with Wycliffe in 2001. Bobbie died July 28, 2001.

On August 16, 2003, Hank married Grace E. Woodberry, a Wheaton College classmate whose parents served on the mission field in China.

Through the intervening years Hank never forgot the Mixtec people in Jicaltepec, Mexico, and when the younger believers there decided in the mid 2000's that they would like to translate the Old Testament into their language, Hank was pleased to assist them.  He served as a consultant for a team of Mixtec national translators.  That work is not yet complete, but the Mixtec translators are carrying on.  In Hank's own words, "This latest development shows how far they have come in their educational and spiritual growth in the last 20+ years since we lived there."

He is survived by his wife, Grace; his five sons, Charles "Brad" (Pamela) Bradley, Jr. of Wheaton, IL, Dave (Karen) Bradley of Kenya, Africa, Mark (Sarah) Bradley of Wheaton, IL, Eric (Mitzi) Bradley of Elgin, IL and Scott (Debbie) Bradley of Wheaton, IL; 19 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

A visitation will be held on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 from 4-8 p.m. at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., in Wheaton, IL. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at Windsor Park Manor, 120 Windsor Park Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188. Interment is private at Wheaton Cemetery in Wheaton, IL.

Memorial gifts may be directed to Wycliffe Bible Translators , PO Box 628200, Orlando, FL 32862.