Chris Hitz-Bradley

Chris Hitz-Bradley, 63, of Brown’s Valley and Ft. Fairfield, ME, passed from this world to the next on June 8, 2021, at Franciscan Hospital East, Lafayette, after a brief illness.

He was born July 17, 1957 in Presque Isle, Maine, to George and Eleanor (Madden) Ireland Bradley, and graduated from the University of Maine Orono. He also graduated with a juris doctorate from Franklin Pierce Law Center, Concord, NH, where he met his now former wife Lorraine. Together they had one beautiful daughter Anna, who survives, as do brothers Scott Bradley and Robert Ireland, and numerous nieces and nephews spread across the US and even as far away as Tokyo.

For many years Chris practiced at the State of Indiana Public Defender, where he represented incarcerated clients, including some on death row. He was a fierce opponent of the death penalty, and was the head of the Indiana Abolition Coalition, an anti-death penalty organization. He raised hundreds of chickens (and sold eggs at the Crawfordsville Farmers’ Market), loved cats, dogs, and a few goats, and was rarely without a cup of coffee.

Cremation was chosen and no services will be held; Burkhart Funeral Home has been entrusted with care. His ashes will later be interred in a family plot in Ft. Fairfield, Maine. The family wishes to thank the nurses and doctors of Franciscan East for their gentle and supportive care in Chris’s final weeks.