SADIE CHAVIS BRAGG

Mrs. Sadie Chavis Bragg was born in Petersburg, Virginia, to Lonnie Chavis, Sr. and Mag Dora Battle Chavis on March 5, 1944. As a child, Sadie attended Metropolitan Baptist Church and Peabody High School, where she was the Valedictorian. It was at Peabody High School where Sadie met the love of her life, her late husband, Alvin Leonard Bragg, Sr.
After high school, Sadie enrolled in and graduated from Virginia State College (University), where she majored in mathematics and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. After college, Sadie and Alvin were married. That same year, 1967, Sadie earned a Certificate in Mathematics from Oberlin College.
Sadie dedicated her professional life to teaching students mathematics and expanding educational opportunities, especially for students of color and women. Early in her career, she taught mathematics to junior high school students; taught students at an alternative high school as part of the New York Urban League Street Academy; and coordinated a college-bound program for junior high school students. From 1970 to 1982, Sadie taught college-bound adult students as a mathematics lecturer at the Manhattan Educational Opportunity Center.
In 1982, after earning a Doctorate in Education in College Teaching of Mathematics from Teachers College, Columbia University, Sadie joined the Borough of Manhattan Community College's (BMCC) mathematics department as a professor. Over the years at BMCC, Sadie served in several positions, including Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for Curriculum Provost, and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. She retired in 2014.
Throughout her career, Sadie was actively involved in mathematics education on the local, state, and national levels. Sadie co-authored over 60 mathematics textbooks for K-14, served as the President of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC), and was a member of the U.S. National Commission on Mathematics Instruction, the National Academy of Sciences. Among other awards, she received the AMATYC Mathematics Excellence Award and the Outstanding Alumna Award from the Teachers College Department of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
More than any of her professional endeavors, Sadie loved spending time with family and friends. She loved bargain shopping, listening to music, and watching movies (especially The Sound of Music and almost any western movie).
Above all else, Sadie enjoyed spending time with Alvin Sr. and their son, Alvin Jr., and more recently with her daughter-in-law, Jamila, and her beloved grandchildren, Maya (12) and Mark (9). Up until her recent decline in health, Sadie loved to attend Maya's and Mark's school, church, and sporting events or host them for sleepovers. Perhaps her favorite activity was post-church brunch at her house, which featured waffles with lots of syrup and mathematical enrichment games for Maya and Mark, which the family affectionately referred to as "Math Time."
In addition to Alvin Jr., Jamila, Maya, and Mark, Sadie is survived by her brother, Lonnie Chavis, Jr.; her godson and nephew, Gregory Jefferson, Sr. (Jana); cousins, Mary Williams and Roland Christian, Jr.; mother-in-law, Horatia Hayes; eight siblings-in-law, Cordell Bragg-Weaver (Ricardo), Jacqueline Bragg Ruff, Howard Bragg, Wanda Hayes, Yvette Jones-Thomas (Jerome), Dwayne Hayes, Darryl Hayes, Sr. (Kyshia), and Danite Hayes-Easley (Ronnie); nieces and nephews, Lisa Chavis Gregory (Algie), Monica Chavis Goode, Tiffany Weaver, Ricardo Weaver, Jr., Ronald Ruff, Sr., Brandi Bragg, Aisha Edwards, Tazzley Hayes, Edwina Thomas, Jerome Thomas, Jr., Timothy Thomas, DeAngelo Lewis, Dwayne Hayes II, Caitlyn Hayes, Darryl Hayes, Jr., Ashely Hayes, DeAnta Hayes, Dominique Hayes, Donaisha Hayes, and Ronnie Easley; her great-nephews and nieces, the grandchildren of her beloved late sister, Maxine, and beloved late brother-in-law, Thomas: Gregory, Jr., Noël, and Evan Jefferson; her great-niece Alisa Gregory; godchildren, Dara Jemmott and Alex Huntley; Jamila's siblings, Thema Ponton and Adom Martin, and a host of other relatives and friends.
Services will be held 11:00 A.M., Saturday, November 10, 2018, at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 1021 Halifax Street, Petersburg, VA, the Rev. Lamont A. Hobbs, Pastor. The interment to follow at Dinwiddie Memorial Park.
J.M. Wilkerson Funeral Establishment, Inc., 102 South Avenue, Petersburg, Va., (804) 732-8911, www.jmwilkersonsince1874.com.