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(4) As the patron of the Bradley 3 Ranch near Memphis, Texas, Bradley has won various awards for land stewardship and success in cattle breeding and management.​

(4) As the patron of the Bradley 3 Ranch near Memphis, Texas, Bradley has won various awards for land stewardship and success in cattle breeding and management.​

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'''Minnie Lou Ottinger Bradley''' (born December 15, 1931) is the matriarch of the 11,500-acre '''Bradley 3 Ranch''' in Childress County in the [[Texas]] Panhandle. An inductee of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in [[Fort Worth]], she is a trailblazer for women in the field of [[livestock]] breeding and ranch management. She is the first woman to have been president of the American Angus Association. The Bradley 3 is located entirely in Childress County but has a Memphis address and an Estelline [[telephone]] connection, both communities in Hall County.​

'''Minnie Lou Ottinger Bradley''' (born December 15, 1931) is the matriarch of the 11,500-acre '''Bradley 3 Ranch''' in Childress County in the [[Texas]] Panhandle. An inductee of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in [[Fort Worth]], she is a trailblazer for women in the field of [[livestock]] breeding and ranch management. She is the first woman to have been president of the American Angus Association. The Bradley 3 is located entirely in Childress County but has a Memphis address and an Estelline [[telephone]] connection, both communities in Hall County.​

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==Background==

==Background==

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Bradley was born in Hinton in Caddo County in western [[Oklahoma]], to Ralph Thomas Ottinger (1904–1970),<ref name=ssdi>[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> who was employed in road construction, and the former Zulema Young (1903–1987), a teacher.  Bradley had three siblings: Helen, born March 20, 1930, Ted Calvin, born August 27, 1938, and Linda Sue born November 24, 1943.  Bradley later lived on a [[wheat]] farm near Hydro on the line between Caddo and Blaine counties. Even as a nine-year-old, Bradley participated in the [[4-H]] Club, having shown lambs and pigs. At the time, girls were not permitted in the Future Farmers of America, but, spurred by her uncle, Ted Ottinger, she became focused with a career in livestock and ranching,  She graduated with honors from Hydro High School, where she was a member of the state championship girls’ [[basketball]] team in 1948.<ref name=cowboy>http://cowboyjournal.okstate.edu/cjfall04/firsts.htm</ref>

Bradley was born in Hinton in Caddo County in western [[Oklahoma]], to Ralph Thomas Ottinger (1904–1970),<ref name=ssdi>[http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> who was employed in road construction, and the former Zulema Young (1903–1987), a teacher.  Bradley had three siblings: Helen, born March 20, 1930, Ted Calvin, born August 27, 1938, and Linda Sue born November 24, 1943.  Bradley later lived on a [[wheat]] farm near Hydro on the line between Caddo and Blaine counties. Even as a nine-year-old, Bradley participated in the [[4-H]] Club, having shown lambs and pigs. At the time, girls were not permitted in the Future Farmers of America, but, spurred by her uncle, Ted Ottinger, she became focused with a career in livestock and ranching,  She graduated with honors from Hydro High School, where she was a member of the state championship girls’ [[basketball]] team in 1948.<ref name=cowboy>[http://cowboyjournal.okstate.edu/cjfall04/firsts.htm]; no longer on-line.</ref>

From 1949 to 1953, Bradley attended [[Oklahoma State University]] in Stillwater, where she was the first female student to major in [[animal husbandry]] and where she met her future husband, Billy Jack Bradley (also born 1931). The couple married in 1955 and had two children, Monte Jack Bradley (1958–1984),<ref name=ssdi/> who died in an [[automobile]] accident, and Mary Lou Bradley-Henderson, an accountant] who came to work with her mother at the ranch on her brother’s death. Billy Jack Bradley left the ranch in the middle 1990s for personal reasons and resides in Vernon in Wilbarger County,  northwest of Fort Worth.<ref name=cowboy/>

From 1949 to 1953, Bradley attended [[Oklahoma State University]] in Stillwater, where she was the first female student to major in [[animal husbandry]] and where she met her future husband, Billy Jack Bradley (also born 1931). The couple married in 1955 and had two children, Monte Jack Bradley (1958–1984),<ref name=ssdi/> who died in an [[automobile]] accident, and Mary Lou Bradley-Henderson, an accountant] who came to work with her mother at the ranch on her brother’s death. Billy Jack Bradley left the ranch in the middle 1990s for personal reasons and resides in Vernon in Wilbarger County,  northwest of Fort Worth.<ref name=cowboy/>