of Little Rock, AR

August 14, 1936 - January 2, 2023

Rose Bivins Bradley, 86, of Little Rock, went to be with the Lord, January 2, 2023. She was born in Roland, Arkansas, on August 14, 1936, to Frank and Flossie Bivins.

Rose was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, William Bradley; son, Eben Bradley; sister, Edna Carolyn Studer; brother, Franklin Gail Bivins and brothers-in-law, Ray Studer, George Moreland and Roscoe Bixler. She is survived by two daughters, Karol Simmons (Rusty) of Benton and Kathy O'Connor (Steve) of North Little Rock; sisters, Mary Ann Bixler of Roland, Kay Moreland of Natural Steps and Freita Bivins of Little Rock; brother, Don Bivins (Donna) of Conway and sister-in-law, Marita Bivins of Little Rock. She is also survived by grandchildren, Bradley Simmons of Fayetteville, Will Simmons of Little Rock, Brynne Simmons of Fayetteville and Griffin and Aerin O'Connor of North Little Rock-as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Nicknamed ''Tiny'' as a child, and called that by her family her whole life, Rose was a very big person in a small package. Family meant everything to her and her life's work was doing things for them. She could not sit still and rarely did. She enjoyed getting up and doing whatever needed to be done. She worked hard every day to make a caring, loving, well-ordered home for her family.

After finishing high school at Joe T. Robinson, she went to work at the Arkansas Highway Department where she met her future husband, Bill. They married and lived in Little Rock for a few years before moving to Morrilton, eventually moving back to Little Rock in 1969.

She left the Highway Department to work in Personnel at the Arkansas State Hospital. She developed long friendships there and helped many employees with whatever issues they had, explaining benefits to many of them over the years. In the 1980s, she determined she had some free time at night, so she went to work part-time for Opinion Research Associates, doing telephone surveys on many evenings. She ''retired'' from the hospital in 2005 after 39 years to take care of a new grandson during the day, but she never really retired. Her evening job had transitioned from opinion surveys to farm surveys when she started another career with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), calling farmers for their crop and safety statistics. She ended up as a supervisor there before retiring again in 2016. When her daytime job of caring for grandkids was over, she spent several years working in childcare at Fellowship Bible Church. Except when the State of Arkansas changed systems every few years and except for employee evaluations, she loved almost every minute of her work but especially when she got to hang out with small children or talk to farmers.

Her faith was strong and church life was important to her. She was a member of Markham Street Baptist Church for 53 years, from the time she and Bill moved to Little Rock from Morrilton. There she helped teach the four and five year-old Sunday School Class for over 20 years. She led by example and showed her children how to live a strong Christian life.

Rose enjoyed her kids and grandkids more than anything. She was generous and caring, listening to whatever was going on in their lives and nothing made her happier than having a houseful of grandkids puttering around and eating what she cooked for them. She was the best Meemaw, extremely attached and proud of all her grandkids. Her philosophy ''It'll all work out'' was taught to her kids on a daily basis through any challenge that came up and now her grandkids regularly say it too. We will miss her quiet shining example.

She loved to cook and hosted delicious family dinners almost every Sunday of her adult life. The sound of the pressure cooker hissing on our return from church is a vivid memory. Having grown up in a gardening family, she had a green thumb and a lifelong love of plants and gardening. Summer Sunday dinners often featured tomatoes, okra, squash and peppers from her garden. She was a Master Gardener and worked on several projects with the Master Gardeners of Pulaski County, including several years working with patients at the Baptist Rehabilitation Institute. She also loved to sew and made some of her own dresses and many outfits for her kids when they were young.

She cherished her independence and wanted nothing more than to make sure her children and grandchildren were happy and to take care of herself. She never wanted to put anyone out. She was still mowing her yard into her 80s and picked tomatoes out of her garden until last month, even though it was a really sorry season for tomatoes.

Visitation will be held at 10am on Monday, January 9th with funeral services following at 11am at Roller-Chenal Funeral Home, 13801 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock. Burial will be at Kennerly Cemetery in Roland.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Roland Baptist Church 18505 AR 300, Roland, AR 72135 or Kennerly Cemetery, PO Box 126, Roland, AR 72135.

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