Mary Bradner to be honored at annual Spring Ball
Gala to help fund emergency department expansion Warwick St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick will host its annual Spring Ball on Saturday, April 29, at the Sheraton Crossroads in Mahwah, N.J. The gala will raise funds for the hospital’s emergency room expansion. One of the highlights of the annual ball is honoring a member of the community for his or her leadership. This year, Mrs. Morris R. (Mary) Bradner, Jr., will be honored with the 2006 Caring for Life Award. The honor recognizes civic leaders who maintain good standing within the community, support the Warwick Healthcare Campus, and fulfill the Bon Secours’ mission of offering “good help to those in need.” The Spring Ball also offers sponsorship and journal advertising opportunities for individuals and businesses who wish to demonstrate support for the Warwick Healthcare Campus and this year’s honorees. The hospital is part of the Warwick campus of Bon Secours, which also includes Mt. Alverno Center and Schervier Pavilion. Mary Bradner is known to members of the community for her generosity and lifelong support of organizations, including the St. Anthony Community Hospital Auxiliary and the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick. In 1997, she founded the Bradner Heart Fund in memory of her late husband, Dr. Morris Renfrew “Bud” Bradner, Jr., and his father, Dr. M. R. Bradner, Sr. The careers of both Warwick surgeons, father and son, spanned most of the last century. The elder Bradner was a driving force with the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in the original building of St. Anthony Community Hospital in 1939. The fund was established to help purchase state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment equipment, and to improve cardiac care services at the hospital. “What pleases me most,” said Mary Bradner, “is that every dollar contributed to this fund will be spent locally to help cardiac patients in this community.” Although she was born in New York City, soon afterwards her parents moved to Morristown, N.J. After finishing high school, she attended Goucher College, and later became a laboratory technician. While working at Morristown Memorial Hospital, a friend introduced her to a young doctor, Morris Bradner. They married in December 1952, and the couple moved into their first home just off Maple Ave in Warwick, where he was practicing medicine. Later, they purchased the stately home on Oakland Ave where Mary still resides. Morris passed away in 1996 at age 74. The couple raised two sons and two daughters, and there are now six granddaughters. “Mary Bradner is one of the most deserving people in our community,” stated Leah Cerkvenik, executive vice president and administrator of the Warwick Healthcare Campus. “Her lifelong support of St. Anthony Community Hospital, and her many contributions to this community, especially her work with the Bradner Heart Fund, have been extraordinary.” To make reservations, or learn more about sponsorship and journal opportunities, call 987-5677.