A recording of Brad's memorial service is available until May 14th in the Special Events section at https://holywisdommonastery.org/monastery-without-walls/streaming/.

FITCHBURG - Bradley J. Sherman was born in Eau Claire, Wis., on May 22, 1943, to Betty and Jerry Sherman. He graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 1961 and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1966, then moved to Wild Rose to teach history and coach at the high school there. The second day on the job, Brad went weak in the knees upon meeting the school’s art teacher, Jean Brownlow. He worked up the nerve to ask her out for a date, which she accepted. He and his date soon found out they were both born May 22, 1943; a sign, perhaps, that this was meant to be. On Aug. 19, 1967, at the Camp Lucerne chapel in Neshkoro, Jean became Brad’s life partner and best friend.

After teaching and coaching for five years, Brad was hired as an assistant athletic trainer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1978, Brad decided he wanted to see athletic training services provided to high school athletes and returned to teaching and coaching, this time at Lakeland High School in Minocqua.

In 1981, an opportunity presented itself at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics to help develop a sports medicine program. Along with Dr. William Clancy, administrators Gordon Derzon and Gordon Ridley, and a dedicated staff of wonderful, passionate professionals, Brad and his colleagues transformed a fledging program of two orthopedists, a physical therapist, and an athletic trainer into one of the top sports medicine programs in the country. In 1995, the program moved into a state-of-the-art multidisciplinary facility that included sports medicine, spine, and family medicine clinics and cardiac rehabilitation, fitness, and aquatic centers.

Along with his career in sports medicine, Brad was active in the United Methodist Camping Ministry. He began as a summer counselor at Camp Lucerne in 1962 and over the next 50 years served in a variety of roles within the program, including serving as site director at Camp Lucerne from 2002-2004.

Like his father, Brad was a grounded man who valued life’s simple gifts: a house wren nesting in his backyard pine, prairie wildflowers in bloom, floating on his back out beyond the raft at Stratton Lake. He treasured time spent with his faith community, his friends, and his family. Above all, he loved Jean deeply and was an exemplar of “to have and to hold, in sickness and in health.”

Brad is survived by his wife, Jean; son, Paul (Teresa Perez); daughter, Amy Kortbein (Thad); son, Eric (Melissa Rosenkranz); three grandchildren, Jonathan, Pearl and Indigo; sisters, Peggy Sherman and Jane (Dennis) Klapoetke; and brothers- and sisters-in-law, David and Mary Werth, Charles and Sherry Brownlow, and Debbie and Jim Brownlow. He was preceded in death by his daughter-in-law, Linda Sherman.

A celebration of life will be held at HOLY WISDOM MONASTERY, 4200 County Road M, Middleton, at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 15, 2024.

Memorials may be made to the UW-Madison Athletic Training Program Scholarship Fund-112304368, Lake Lucerne Camp, or Agrace Hospice Care.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson West

Funeral & Cremation Care

7435 University Ave.

(608) 831-6761

Bradley Jerome Sherman

May 22, 1943 - April 03, 2024

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