Al Bradford was postmaster, toastmaster, barber, birthday card poet, photographer of beauty, lover of sweet things and melancholic songs in minor keys, master of the two-step and of story, historian, pen-collector, champion of the poor, and champion of ice cream. He was an advocate of Handshakes for All, Optimism, and lived by the Burl Ives-ian maxim of "Watch the Donut, Not the Hole" (this was before donut holes). He is the namesake for Mr. B's Puppet Theatre, which include, in part, his granddaughter Anna and his daughters Alva, Nina, and Thia.