Lowell Glen Bradford

(September 20, 1949 – September 7, 2022)

Lowell “Glen” Bradford, 72, of Le Grand, California went to be with the Lord on September 7, 2022 with his beloved wife, Mary Lea, by his side.

Glen was born September 20, 1949 in Merced, California to Norman Glen Bradford and Audrey Mae (Holland) Bradford. He was the middle child of three.

Glen was married to Mary Lea for 51 years. He is survived by Mary Lea, his four daughters, Jennifer Bradford, Catherine Cole, Diane (Michael) Giardine and Alison (Jon) Quisenberry, six granddaughters, Caitlyn Cole (18), Cali Cole (16), Emma Quisenberry (14), Hayden Quisenberry (12), Morgan Quisenberry (10) and Avery Quisenberry (9). He is also survived by his sister, Dolores (Don) Clinton, and his brother, Greg (Cindy) Bradford. Glen is preceded in death by his father, Norman (2010), and his mother, Audrey (2020).

Glen lived in Le Grand for the majority of his life. Glen and Mary Lea were high school sweethearts. Glen graduated as Valedictorian of Le Grand High School in 1967. He then attended college at UCLA. Mary Lea followed in Glen’s footsteps and enrolled at UCLA. Glen and Mary Lea were married on June 26, 1971. They were blessed with their first daughter, Jennifer, on June 11, 1974. Glen graduated from UCLA with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1976. He worked for Sandia Labs in Livermore, CA for nine months before deciding to return to Le Grand to start farming almonds. Glen and Mary Lea were blessed with their second daughter, Catherine, on October 8, 1977. A short 13-months later, they were blessed with Diane on November 15, 1978. Glen and Mary Lea were blessed one more time with a fourth daughter, Alison, born on February 23, 1982.

In 1981, the renowned Fred Anderson sold his plant breeding business to Norman and Glen. This was the start of Bradford Farms, a partnership between Glen, Mary Lea, Norman and Audrey that provided many days of hard work and wonderful memories. The business finally started having some success in the breeding program, especially some very good nectarines. This led to some overseas contracts and the opportunity to travel to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, South Africa, France, Italy and Spain. For 27 years, Bradford Farms continued the Anderson program, with the father-son partnership being one of the oldest private breeding programs in California. By 1998, Bradford Farms had a 50% share of the nectarine market in the US. In 2008, Norman officially retired from the plant breeding business. Glen was joined by his son-in-law, Jon Quisenberry, and B Q Genetics began. It was also in 2008 that the “Plumtastic” term was coined and the international program, the Metis® Project, was set in place. Over the last 14 years, B Q Genetics has created over 600,000 new varieties of nectarines, plums, peaches, cherries, apricots, and hybrids (using natural bee pollination). Hundreds of new fruit varieties have been patented and planted into commercial orchards. B Q Genetics has growing programs in the US and all over the world.

Glen played sports through high school (football, basketball and track & field), but his true calling was Coach Bradford. He began coaching early when his brother Greg was beginning to learn how to play baseball and Glen made Greg learn how to pitch left-handed. Coach Bradford transitioned to coaching fast-pitch softball for all of his daughters’ various teams. For the next 37 years, Coach Bradford would spend many hours at softball fields around the region coaching and mentoring not only his daughters and granddaughters, but their teammates from Le Grand High, Merced Bandits, Turlock Christian, The Batgirls, Stone Ridge Christian and Valley Rage. He never missed an opportunity to support and cheer on his loved ones.

Glen’s true passion was his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glen was a philanthropist for the Lord. He has given his time and resources to projects that support the Christian faith and people that need Christ’s love. He was a Board Member for Stone Ridge Christian for 10 years. Glen has also sponsored many students at Stone Ridge Christian so that they may have the opportunity to develop into the person God designed him or her to be. These are just a few examples of his generous heart for God’s kingdom.

Glen and Mary Lea had a blessed life together. Glen worked very hard, loved his family beyond measure, loved the Lord with all of his heart, talked to everyone he met, told as many jokes as he could, was one of the smartest men in any room and could solve the most complicated math problems. He was truly one-of-a-kind. He was a devoted husband, dad, papa, father-in-law, son, brother, uncle, coach, friend, boss, teacher, mentor, and so much more to everyone he met. He touched so many lives and spread his love and faith to all. When it came to his wife, daughters, and granddaughters, he always said that he would do anything that they wanted him to do, just to see them smile, inspired by Tim McGraw’s lyrics. Glen’s legacy and his story will be remembered forever by many generations.

A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at Cornerstone Community Church (208 Fig Tree Road, Chowchilla, CA 93610). A private burial service will be held at the family’s request. Memorial donations may be made in Glen Bradford’s honor to help build Stone Ridge Christian’s softball field, “Bradford Ballpark” (2738 Dan Ward Road, Merced, CA 95348).

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.stratfordevansfunerals.com for the Bradford family.