Elizabeth "Lisa" Sloan Bradshaw

Elizabeth "Lisa" Sloan Bradshaw, 67, born in Washington D.C. on May 2, 1956, passed away on Sunday, October 15, 2023.

Lisa worked at Clover Hill High School for 34 years as a beloved Health and P. E. teacher and also as the head coach of the school's women's Softball, Volleyball and Basketball Varsity and JV teams.

Her zeal for life was lived through and by adopting, fostering, and raising in her "forever home" an ever-faithful and incredible American Brittany dog names Tarr (1988), and with her many beloved cats who were her passion.  They were loved and seriously spoiled as her surrogate children: Punkin (2003), Puff (2007), Precious (2013), Meow (2015), Mia (2017), Chatter (2019), Tigger & Honey (2021), Grayson "Gracie" (2023), and finally Oreo (2023).  She also fed and looked after a host of abandoned and feral colony cats or individual cats that opted to remain outdoor felines like Muffie, Cassie, and Will. She loved them all unequivocally and unconditionally.  They in turn returned that love in spades. Of all the cats she adopted, Precious, Chatter, and especially her very special girl Gracie were always on her mind as they always comforted her the most to the end during her long eight-year struggle with metastatic colon cancer.  Many are called Crazy Cat Lady's, but she took that coveted name to an entirely new level.

"Memory," one of her favorite songs, tells the tale of her life so well, the song's lyrics are offered here in her memory by her brother as a loving tribute to her resilience in the face of her last years of unspoken silent pain & affliction from the progressive ravages of her cancer while always offering an unlimited and unconditional amount of care, love and help to all who knew her, even new acquaintances:

Midnight, not a sound from the pavement

Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight, the withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan

Memory, all alone in the moonlight

I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again

Every streetlamp seems to beat
A fatalistic warning

Someone mutters and the street lamp gutters
And soon
It will be morning

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

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Burnt-out ends of smokey days
The stale cold smell of morning
The street lamp dies; another night is over
Another day is dawning

Touch me

It's so easy to leave me

All alone with my memory

Of my days in the sun

If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day has begun

"Memory" is a show tune composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Trevor Nunn based on poems by T. S. Eliot. It was written for the 1981 musical Cats ©.  Original lyrics sung by British Actor Elaine Page.

Lisa is preceded in death by her father, Lt Col Marion Eldridge Bradshaw, USAF (Ret); her mother, Cynthia Ann Lowery Bradshaw; and her sister, Deborah Dale Bradshaw Carter.

She is survived by her brother, Major James Stuart Lowery Bradshaw, USAF (Ret) and his wife, Mary Alice Taylor Bradshaw; nieces, Jennifer Elizabeth Bradshaw Tilley and her husband, Corey Tilley, and their sons (grand nephews), Lucas James Tilley and Levi Banks Tilley; Laura Kristin Bradshaw Thompson and her husband, Robert Gene "Bobby" Thompson and their daughter (grand niece) Mary Elizabeth Thompson; brother-in-law, James Francis Carter; nephews, Christopher James Carter of N. Chesterfield, Jonathan Allan Carter of Chester.

Per her request, a committal service will be conducted at a time and date TBD on a sunny, warm spring day in the offshore waters of South Carolina while Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" is played in her honor and memory.

She is, and will be forever, missed by those whose hearts she touched. Remember!

In Lieu of Flowers, memorial contributions may be made to her favorite cat and other animal sanctuaries she so loved:

Smitty's Cat Rescue (https://www.smittyscatrescue.org/donations/),

Shoofly Farm (https://www.shooflyfarmvirginia.com/donations-and-sponsorship/),

Chesterfield Animal Services/Shelter (https://www.chesterfield.gov/556/Make-a-Donation) or (https://www.facebook.com/chesterfieldvashelter/), and the

ASPCA (https://www.aspca.org/)