Karen Lee Bradley

Karen Lee Bradley died on May 6 2022 in South Kingstown, RI. Born Karen Lee Borchardt on February 23 1940 to Harry Borchardt and Leone (Brown) in Marshfield, WI (both deceased). She is survived by son Michael, daughter Shannon, sister Lynn Flance, nieces Rachael Flance and Hannah Steerman, daughter in law Meave, and grandsons Cormac and Eamonn Bradley Karen loved travel and learning new cultures and was a lifelong teacher. After graduating from Lawrence College, she enrolled in the Peace Corps where she met future husband Patrick Bradley (deceased). She served in the Peace Corps from 1965 to 1967 in Iran. After son Michael was born, the family moved to Caracas, Venezuela where daughter Shannon was born. After a short time in Lima, Peru, the family moved to Santa Fe, NM where Karen taught Spanish at a private school. During her studies of Central American Politics at the University of New Mexico, she traveled a few times to Nicaragua to meet and learn from government officials. Karen began her career as a part time faculty at the New Mexico Technical Vocational Institute (now CNM) shortly after finishing her studies at UNM. While at TVI, she sometimes taught as many as five classes in a semester including English, Political Science, and Sociology. In addition, she mobilized and began the part-time faculty union. In retirement Karen traveled to Bhutan, Italy, and Ireland for Michael and Meave's wedding. Karen loved dogs and had them throughout her life. In October 2016, Karen and Ditsy the dog moved from Albuquerque NM to Rhode Island to be closer to son Michael and grandsons. These were special but difficult years as Karen struggled with dementia and cardiovascular disease. She lived a full and content life and she will be dearly missed by her family and her large circle of friends back in New Mexico.