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- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 1 Jul 2009.
BRADBURY, PATRICK JOSEPH - age 3, went home to be with the Lord as a result of an accidental drowning, Sunday, June 28th. He was the son of Paul and Whitney Bradbury. Patrick leaves behind his three brothers: Zeke, Caleb and Noah, maternal grandparents, Barry and Darlene Bolding; paternal grandparents, Rick and Suzie Bradbury; maternal great-grandmothers, Hilda Archer, Frances Bolding; paternal great-grandparents, George and Helen Davis, and Dennis and Peggy Bradbury; uncles and aunts, Brandon and Jennifer Bolding, John and Shannon Bradbury along with many cousins. The family will be receiving friends Thursday, July 2nd at Park West Church of God 7635 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. with a memorial service from 7:30-8:30 p.m. which will be child-friendly. Interment will be Friday, to be announced later. In lieu of flowers, donations are being managed and can be sent to New Covenant Fellowship, 6828 Central Avenue Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918. All donations will go directly to helping the Bradburys' with the funeral process and to a memorial fund in honor of Patrick. Condolences to the Bradbury family can be sent via the website www.PatrickBradbury.com Rose Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements. www.rosemortuary.com
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 29 Jun 2009.
Father says family at peace with son's death
The boy stepped away for just a few minutes.
Hours later, divers pulled his body from the waters of the lake.
Patrick Bradbury would have turned 4 years old next month. He drowned Sunday in Fort Loudoun Lake when he apparently wandered off during a friend's birthday party at Carl Cowan Park in West Knox County.
The boy's father said the family's not asking why - just trying to be at peace.
"I believe in a God that gives and takes away," said Paul Bradbury, who works as a youth pastor at New Covenant Fellowship church. "People ask, 'Did God do it?' That doesn't matter. Patrick belonged to him. He was a gift to this earth. I'm grateful to have been his dad for nearly four years and to feel the peace of God in my house that I never could have felt if I hadn't lost him."
Patrick had been playing at the park's splash pad when an afternoon storm blew through and some parents started gathering their children to leave, the father said. The adults got ready to hand out cupcakes at the pavilion, about 30-40 feet from the slippery rocks at the water's edge, when someone noticed Patrick was missing around 6:30 p.m.
"He was probably not even gone five minutes," the father said.
His mother, Whitney, called E-911 within half an hour. Rescuers and Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies spent the next two hours searching the park and the lake until members of the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad found the boy's body in about 40 feet of water around 8:50 p.m.
Patrick's father, mother and three brothers - Zeke, Caleb and Noah - spent the next day remembering the boy they'd known for such a short time.
Patrick's drowning came less than a week after the death of 16-month-old Brody Claiborne, who slipped away from his grandmother's Fountain City home Wednesday night and fell into a neighbor's pool on Oakview Road. Paul Bradbury said he hopes his loss won't lead other parents to become overprotective guardians, afraid to let their children play and experience the world.
"People ask what they can do for us," the father said. "I'd say, don't be afraid to live your life. I've told my kids, it's 100 percent safe to trust in God. It's not 100 percent safe to trust in seat belts or helmets or daddies."
Patrick's family will receive friends 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday at Park West Church of God on Middlebrook Pike, with a service to follow.
The family asked that any donations in his memory be made to New Covenant Fellowship, 6828 Central Avenue Pike.
Matt Lakin may be reached at 865-342-6306.
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Abt 2006 - 2009 (~ 3 years)
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