LibertyUnites • Tributes
Sandra W. Bradshaw
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Growing up on her parents' 90-acre farm near Climax, N.C., Sandy Waugh
Sandra Bradshaw
United Airlines flight attendant, 38, Greensboro, N.C.
Husband, Phil; daughter, Alexandria, 3; son, Nathan, 1; stepdaughter, Shenan, 16.
Bradshaw dreamed of being a flight attendant. But the reality was that she and
her four siblings had to tend the more than 30,000 chickens being raised for a poultry producer.
But Pat and John Waugh didn't hold their children back. At age 16, they were allowed to find another job.
That's exactly what Bradshaw did, taking a job at McDonald's until her 1981 high-school graduation, and then a series of secretarial positions during the next nine years.
An outgoing, competitive person, she once jumped in her car late at night to chase people who had stolen her brother's off-road three-wheeler. She got the license plate and police later retrieved the three-wheeler.
Bradshaw kept her eyes on her goal, and in March 1990 joined US Airways as a flight attendant. Five months later, she was laid off during cutbacks. But beginning in October, when she married US Airways pilot Phil Bradshaw, her luck changed. By December of that year, she was working for United Airlines.
While family vacations in North Carolina had rarely ventured beyond the state's borders, the Bradshaws saw the world: Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the Caribbean and most of the United States.
"Every place we went we had a blast," Phil Bradshaw said. "My wife loved to travel. That's why we waited so long to have kids."
Alexandria was born in 1998 and Nathan last year, and Sandy, 38, cut her flights to the bare minimum -- two two-day trips a month from Newark to San Francisco or to Los Angeles.
"She always wanted to be here for the kids," her husband said.
Yet she loved the day she had between return flights since it gave her a chance to relax, do her nails and catch up on her magazine reading before returning home to Greensboro, N.C. and her husband, children and flower garden.
Earlier this month, the nearly 3-year-old Alexandria once again asked her father at bedtime where mommy was.
"Mommy's not coming home tonight is she?" she asked.
"No," he answered. "Mommy was in an airplane crash and died."
He said she gasped and then said, "Daddy, we'll have to be strong for each other."
Sandra Bradshaw
United Airlines flight attendant, 38, Greensboro, N.C.
Husband, Phil; daughter, Alexandria, 3; son, Nathan, 1; stepdaughter, Shenan, 16.
Bradshaw dreamed of being a flight attendant. But the reality was that she and
her four siblings had to tend the more than 30,000 chickens being raised for a poultry producer.
But Pat and John Waugh didn't hold their children back. At age 16, they were allowed to find another job.
That's exactly what Bradshaw did, taking a job at McDonald's until her 1981 high-school graduation, and then a series of secretarial positions during the next nine years.
An outgoing, competitive person, she once jumped in her car late at night to chase people who had stolen her brother's off-road three-wheeler. She got the license plate and police later retrieved the three-wheeler.
Bradshaw kept her eyes on her goal, and in March 1990 joined US Airways as a flight attendant. Five months later, she was laid off during cutbacks. But beginning in October, when she married US Airways pilot Phil Bradshaw, her luck changed. By December of that year, she was working for United Airlines.
While family vacations in North Carolina had rarely ventured beyond the state's borders, the Bradshaws saw the world: Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, the Caribbean and most of the United States.
"Every place we went we had a blast," Phil Bradshaw said. "My wife loved to travel. That's why we waited so long to have kids."
Alexandria was born in 1998 and Nathan last year, and Sandy, 38, cut her flights to the bare minimum -- two two-day trips a month from Newark to San Francisco or to Los Angeles.
"She always wanted to be here for the kids," her husband said.
Yet she loved the day she had between return flights since it gave her a chance to relax, do her nails and catch up on her magazine reading before returning home to Greensboro, N.C. and her husband, children and flower garden.
Earlier this month, the nearly 3-year-old Alexandria once again asked her father at bedtime where mommy was.
"Mommy's not coming home tonight is she?" she asked.
"No," he answered. "Mommy was in an airplane crash and died."
He said she gasped and then said, "Daddy, we'll have to be strong for each other."
Prayers & Messages
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2008-07-28
Sandy Is my Hero, and Rolemodel. I truly look up to her. I strive to be just like her. I never got to meet her, but I think it's amazing that she touched lives of people she did not even know, including me. She is the reason I go after my dreams. I think about her everyday. I even have a bracelet that is engraved with her name in it. It helps me to not forget. We shall never forget. I pray for her familly everday, and Just know you'll see her again.
Love Always,
Kayla Foor
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2008-07-19
I can not express the sorrow and shock I felt as I learned my schoolmate from elementary up to high school had died in this manner. I had just seen her at our high school reunion and asked her what her secret was to be able to look prettier and younger than she did at 18? She laughed and thanked me. She was stunning that night and having so much fun posing for pictures with her friends. My mom went to Pleasant Garden school with her parents. I remember when I was younger spending the night in her home once, skating in the garage. She was a kind and beautiful person and my heart still aches when I ride by her parents home down the road from mine. God bless to John (Pete) Pat and the whole family. Now that I am a parent to grown children, I can not imagine the pain you must feel. You will see her again... Sincerely, Kimberly Hales Kime
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-07-20
God bless you! Rest in peace!
Fátima Ferreira - Portugal
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-02-18
I pray for you and hope you are spending your days in heaven with Jesus. I am so sorry for this tragedy.
Lora Bradford
Lora Bradford
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-02-18
Thank you for being Greensboro's hero. Although I didn't know you personally, you will be remembered.
Susan Pulliam
Susan Pulliam
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-02-18
My prayers are with your family. God bless you and good luck.
Kaylee
Kaylee
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-02-18
Through sadness and tears, may God bless you.
Debra M., American with a broken heart
Debra M., American with a broken heart
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2007-02-18
I speak for all of your neighbors in Greensboro, North Carolina, when I say you will be remembered as a saint. God bless your family.
Todd Jones
Todd Jones
Sandra W. Bradshaw
2006-09-13
I am so sorry Alexandria will not have you to be there for her.