Obituary of Phyllis Bradford Petranovich

Phyllis Bradford Chase was born January 6, 1931, the youngest of three children. Her vocation began young. When she was still a child she helped a neighbor who was hurt, by taking her inside her house and caring for her wounds, and she later recalled that this event was one of the reasons she went to nursing school. She met Raymond Petranovich in 1949, and they married after she received a BSN in 1953 from Cornell School of Nursing. 

Nursing fit her personality, as she put others ahead of herself. When her children were young she often went hungry to make sure they had enough to eat. She was often helping strangers as well, something she loved to do.

Phyllis also loved crafts and taught many of her grandchildren; they learned sewing, creating wire sculptures, wood burning, and applying gold leaf, among others. She also helped drive her numerous grandchildren to their various activities and enjoyed attending their dance recitals, soccer games, and other programs, as well as visiting her grandchildren in other states whenever she could. Phyllis herself sewed a lot of holiday clothes and continued knitting well into her 80s.

She was a loving and much loved mother of four, grandmother of eight, and great-grandmother of three. This includes her daughters Donna Hewitt, Diane Marion, and Deborah DeMello, and her son James Petranovich. All of us miss you, Mom, Grammy.