A biographical portrait, published in 2023, including transcripts, photographs, documents and paintings to comprise a 265-page book. The noncommercial, limited edition of one hundred copies is intended to be privately circulated among family, close friends and select libraries.
Leonard Anthony Bracken Sr., the last of ten children, came into the world on Christmas day 1900 in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. He was born in the family home, located on the northeast corner of Germantown Avenue and Gowen Avenue. What follows is a chronology of his life.
1900: Born December 25 in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, referred to as Len.
1909: Death of his father: Andrew J. Bracken (July 1852–Jan. 23, 1909).
1914: Works as a helper for William and Ann Willet at their stained-glass studio in Chestnut Hill.
1915–1918: Attends Roman Catholic High School in downtown Philadelphia. Also works at his uncles’ Mount Airy Garage.
1917: Death of future father-in-law: Thomas Joseph Collins (Oct. 21, 1869–Sept. 16, 1917).
1918: Enlists in the Navy. After the World War I, joins the Naval Reserve Force.
1919: Len paddling a canoe.
1920: Becomes proprietor of a battery service station operating from the family’s Mount Airy home. His business also includes bicycle sales and service, as well as the sale of toy electric trains.
1921: Honorably discharged from the Navy in September.
1923: Len relaxing at a campsite.
1924: Len marries Anna Rose Collins in June and moves to Glenside, outside of Philadelphia.
1925: Anna Collins Bracken
1925: Birth of daughter Anna, later Anne, in March.
1926: Birth of daughter Elizabeth, called Betty, in October.
1927: Len and Anna at the beach with daughter Anna.
1929: Birth of daughter Mary Louise in July.
1929:
1930: Anna and Mary
1933: Birth of son Leonard Anthony Bracken Jr., called Tony, in October.
Mid-1930s: Len in his uniform for the American Legion, the wartime veterans organization.
1936: Family photographs at the Glenside home.
1939: Moves family to Chestnut Hill with the purchase from developer George Woodward of a three-story house and the conjoined St. Martin’s Garage. Len and Anna ran the garage business together.
1940: Birth of daughter Helen in May.
1942: Birth of son William, called Bill, in February.
1945: Birth of daughter Susan in April; death of mother-in-law: Mary Elizabeth Dealy Collins (Oct. 21, 1873–March 3, 1945).
1947: Photograph with Bill.
1947: President of the Chestnut Hill Businessmen’s Association. Pictured bottom left with mallet in hand in June photo taken by the Germantown Courier newspaper. Separately voted to be city ward leader.
1948: Photograph with Tony and Susan on May 31, at Chestnut Hill Academy’s Blue & Blue Field Day—Tony was captain of the Dark Blue team.
1949: Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in June; appearance with wife Anna on nationwide radio quiz show in Manhattan. The couple was awarded a session with celebrity photographer Irving Chidnoff at his 550 Fifth Avenue studio.
1949: Death of Anna on Nov. 10 from a heart attack. She was buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Philadelphia.
1950: Marriage of his daughter Anne to Robert Edward Tracy in May.
1950: Germantown Courier newspaper photographs at the time Len initiated the concert series at Pastorius Park.
1950: Secures appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy for his son Tony.
1950–53, Korean War era: Worked as an inspector of military vehicles in Philadelphia, probably at the J. G. Brill Company.
1951: Photograph with Tony in Annapolis.
1952: Works on paving the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
1953: Death of his mother in January at the age of 93: Mary Ann Bayles Bracken, known as Nana (Feb. 19, 1859–Jan. 3, 1953).
1956: Marriage of his daughter Betty to James Russell Lewis in November. Marriage of his daughter Mary to Thomas Munn.
1959: Travelled to Jacksonville for the marriage of son Tony to Martha Dobarzysnki in May.
1959; Marriage of daughter Helen to Gustave Haun in the fall.
1961: Travelled to Washington, D.C., in January with Susan and Bill to attend grandson Leonard Anthony Bracken III’s christening in Maryland.
1961: Death from congestive heart failure on Dec. 3; buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Philadelphia.
