Irene A. Bradford

Irene A. Bradford (July 10, 1914- June 28, 1996) was an American educator, writer, historian, farmer, and community leader.
Overview
Irene Bradford contributed to the town of Patten, Maine through teaching, employing farm workers, hosting visitors, and volunteering for church, academy, and other town activities. She documented the history of the local academy in her History of Patten Academy (1947) and was working on a general history of Patten at the time of her death.
Early Years
Irene Annie Olsen was born on June 10, 1914 In Hollis Center, Maine, located west of Portland. She was the oldest of three children born to Henry A. Olsen and Glennie (Jones) Olsen. Her brother Dudley was born about 1916; Henry in 1924.
Irene’s paternal grandparents and their three oldest children were born in Norway, with five more children added when the family arrived in New Hampshire. Grandfather died early, Irene’s maternal grandfather was a farmer, whose wife died when Glennie was four, precipitating a move to New Hampshire.
As a young child, Irene Olsen moved continually with her family, necessitated by Henry Olsen's work in the forests for the lumber industry. By the time Irene was ready to enter high school, she had resided in at least 24 locations. The family settled in Patten when their two older children reached high school age. She graduated in 1937 with a BA degree in history.
The Patten Academy
Irene Olsen accepted a teaching position in history and English at the Patten Academy. She taught at the Patten Academy for 14 years.

Married to a Farmer
In November 1950 Irene Olsen married Freeman C. Bradford, a community leader in Patten and widowed farmer. They had been married for only eight years.
Head of Household
Irene Bradford was determined to pay off the farm debts that had been incurred by several years of borrowing to offset poor potato crop prices. She planted and harvested the fields, hiring several men and dozens of school children to harvest potatoes. Irene farmed, taught Sunday school at the Methodist church, and welcomed friends and visitors to stay at her large, well-furnished farmhouse. Until its closing in the mid-1970s, the Patten Academy held board meetings and receptions at her home. Her hospitality was legendary, as townspeople and visors gathered beside her large iron cook stove, nicknamed "Alice." She answered requests for local history information, even gathering additional facts from her extensive library. A magazine termed her the town “greeter, ” as well as its local historian. In 1990 Echoes Magazine published one article about her “An Open Door,” written by local farmer and journalist Annaliese Hood, Bradford was featured in a four-part series about her life in the Houlton Pioneer Times and in the Bangor Daily News in 1993 as “Patten Woman has Power of Attraction.”
As Patten prepared for its Sesquicentennial in 1991, a local business constructed a parade float for Irene labelled "Ellis Family Salutes Patten Town Historian." Her 80th birthday was marked by a large town celebration. State Representative Michael Michaud presented her with a congratulatory citation from the Maine Legislature.
Irene Bradford died in 1996 at the age of 82. The church she’d been a member of for so long was packed beyond capacity. Tributes would continue for years, including reminiscences by a niece in Alice, Frankenstein, and Saturday Night Beans: A Young Girl’s Memories of Bradford Farm.<ref name=Alice_Frankenstein />

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