Wells of Wisdom: Sister Betty, "Stay centered in God..."

Friday, February 6, 2026

"Stay centered in God, who is always with us."
-Sister Betty Bradley

Sister Betty Bradley was born in Spokane, Washington, and baptized immediately because she wasn’t expected to live. “But I fooled them,” she recounted with a laugh. She was the third youngest of eight children, four boys and four girls. Her father was a construction worker and her mother was a homemaker.

The family lived in a small town, sixty miles south of Spokane. There they endured a number of tragedies that would forever impact the family. Two years before Sister Betty was born, one of her older brothers (a twin) tragically died when the boat he was in capsized and he drowned. His death was extremely hard on the family. Sister Betty’s mother had a “nervous breakdown” and needed time to heal. Then, to make matters worse, the Bradley family’s house caught on fire. That was enough for the family to decide to pick up stakes and move to Spokane. But tragedy was to happen again years later when the remaining twin brother was killed at thirty years old in a railroad construction accident in Montana. Again, this rocked the family.

Sister Betty was eight years younger than her next oldest sister, so she and her younger two brothers grew up in a very different environment from her older siblings. She has good memories of growing up. She remembers how she and her two younger brothers played lots of games with the neighboring children in nearby parks. “Parks were a big thing for us.”

Sister Betty met the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at St. Ann’s grade school. She loved the sisters. “They were wonderful! They were always so good to us.” (These are two phrases that Sister Betty repeated at different times during the interview.) After eighth grade, she attended Marycliff High School, which was also staffed by FSPA. Sister Betty had a great time in school with lots of friends. “I even had three different boyfriends.” She delivered papers, for which she received free passes to attend movies with friends. “I went to a lot of movies!”

After her freshman year at Marycliff, because she loved the sisters so much, Sister Betty entered the FSPA aspirancy in Spokane, a home for girls who wanted to become Catholic sisters. She lived at Mary of the Angels convent with the sisters and other aspirants, while completing high school at Marycliff. Sister Betty seemed to blossom in that environment. One factor was the fact that the sister in charge took the girls to all the local FSPA convents (there were six of them) to meet the sisters and socialize. “By the time I went to La Crosse, I knew 600 FSPAs.”

sister betty is pictured with three other people in front of a table and they are signing documents
Sister Betty, second from left, is pictured at this celebration Spokane, circa 2000.

After graduation, Sister Betty moved to the FSPA motherhouse, St. Rose Convent, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. There the new members were not allowed to talk to the older sisters. She found it very difficult since she was a very social being. “I cried and cried. One day the postulant director took me into her office and said, ‘Quit crying or go home!’ So I quit crying and learned to enjoy what was around me.”

Sister Betty began by teaching primary grades in Wisconsin and Iowa. Then, in the 1960s, the FSPA congregation formed itself into five provinces, one of which was the Western Province, based in Spokane. Sister Betty related, “That was my time to go west, and I was out there in different places in Washington, Oregon and Montana for over 50 years.” The first year back in Spokane she taught 50 first graders, and the next year, 48. “I marvel. In two years I taught 98 students. And I loved it! It was great!” She continued to enjoy teaching for years.

After the grade school where she was teaching in Montana closed, the congregation asked Sister Betty to get a degree in religious education, which was a great need at the time. She spent the next 25 years in various parishes, organizing programs, training teachers and leading adult education groups. “I worked with many wonderful priests who were so supportive! I was very fortunate. I was busy! And I loved it!”

Sister Betty was called back to La Crosse for four years to serve as FSPA Director of Associates. During her free time, she discovered one of the great loves of her life. She was able to take watercolor classes from an FSPA. During a two-year sabbatical that followed, she took watercolor classes from national and international artists, and subsequently, was able to get into art galleries in Oregon and Spokane. She also learned iconography. She became a dedicated artist, even while serving as Director of Clare Spirituality Center in Spokane and teaching some art classes. “The congregation was always very supportive.”

“Now I have arthritis and can’t do art anymore. But I am very attuned to color and design around me. I often see beauty and say, ‘I really love that!’” She created a booklet called “Praying in Color” which she produced in watercolor while in prayer. Sister Betty spends her days praying, doing exercises to keep healthy, serving on the FSPA Art Committee, volunteering for other jobs around the convent and being with her sisters.

Throughout her life, even when things were difficult, Sister Betty chose to see and embrace the beauty and goodness in the world. “Every day I pray to live in Jesus’ love and to be Jesus’ love to others. That is our call.” She advises all of us: “Stay centered in God, who is always with us.”

About Wells of Wisdom

Communities of Catholic Sisters realize what a wealth of wisdom there is among us; it is too rich to be ignored. So in “Wells of Wisdom," author Sister Karen Lueck features a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration in her golden years who is willing to share some of her wisdom with a world desperately in need of it.