Anna Jeanette Bradley
Services for Anna J. Bradley will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, at Sitka Assembly of God. Services will be open to the public and streamed online.
Those who aren’t feeling well are asked to stay home and watch via Facebook. Search on Facebook Sitka Assembly of God and the online stream should start at 2 p.m., the family said. At the Assembly of God a table will be set up next to the entry way where letters and cards may be dropped off.
“We are encouraging people to do this as a way to share condolences and help communicate last words to our dear Anna and her loving family. The family would appreciate any stories involving Anna, especially older ones from local Islanders,” the family said.
Anna Jeanette Bradley, lifelong citizen of Sitka, passed away on Nov. 30, 2021. She was born Oct. 19, 1963, at SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital, the second daughter of Allan “Buzz” Bradley Sr., a Tlingit from Wrangell, and Oleana (Snigeroff) Bradley, Aleut from Atka. Anna’s Tlingit name was Yakdushi, and she was adopted Naanyaa.aayi, the Eagle Killerwhale clan. She was a member of the Sheet’ka Kwaan Dance Group and first started with her sister Clara decades ago.
She was preceded in death by three sisters: Angela, Marie and Clara, all of Sitka. She is survived by four brothers, James, Harry, Allan “Buzzy” of Sitka and John of Anchorage.
She leaves behind four children: James “JimJim”, Kenyatta, Nikia and Oleana, and four grandchildren. Having had seven brothers and sisters, she also leaves behind 40 nieces and nephews.
Anna became deaf at the age 9 from rheumatic fever, and was sent to a school for the deaf in Anchorage, where she learned Signing Exact English. S.E.E. was her preference over A.S.L., American Sign Language, because it’s better for communicating with the non-deaf community and family.
She enjoyed reading to her sister Clara, who would help her with pronunciation, and she would keep reading after Clara fell asleep. Anna loved to read, just like her mother, and she often wrote long, loving letters to family and friends for any occasion. Anna’s love for writing continued and led to one of her poems being published in a book called Timeless Voices. Hers was the very first poem in this book, which will be on display at the memorial.
Anna was a longtime member of Sitka Assembly of God, where her son Kenyatta would sign the sermon for her. At the church nobody cared that she would sing out of tune and out of time. She is famous within the family as the auntie who takes everyone to church. She always sat front row and was never alone due to how big the family was and how clever she was at getting family to church on Sundays.
Her faith in Jesus helped her become the kind, loving, patient, forgiving person we all know.
