Bradley James Horvath

Bradley James Horvath was born on July 5, 1971 in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin to James Julius Horvath and Carol Ann Horvath and passed from this life on July 26, 2024. He leaves behind his wife, Carmen Horvath, two step-daughters, Cadence and Carlyne Jegers, two teddy bear puppy dogs, Beatrix and Bentley, his mother Carol and brother Brian Horvath and family.

Brad’s early years were spent living in West Allis, and New Berlin Wisconsin. It was there that he met his best friend, Jim Jegers. They attended middle school together and spent much of their free time enjoying the typical pre-teen boy fun . Brad and Jim would remain lifelong friends despite the physical distance that came between them. Brad was the best man in Jim’s wedding, and after Jim passed from Brain Cancer in 2019, Brad stayed in touch with Jim’s wife Carmen. More on that later. When Brad entered High School, the family moved to Fargo, North Dakota, where he lived through his early college years. While in Fargo, Brad and his best friend Tom Seifert, enjoyed getting into typical older boy antics, and again, although physical distance kept the boys apart later on, they still connected via texts and phone calls. Brad attended Shanley High School and reminisced about those days right up to the very end, including regretting not attending his 35th class reunion. He continued to wear his Shanley spirit wear well into his adult years, including his class ring, ripped baseball caps and worn tattered sweatshirts. And he took every chance he could to remind people he was voted “Best Personality” and “Prettiest Eyes”! After High School, Brad moved to Fountain Hills Arizona, where his parents would eventually retire and he settled into college life there. Brad

attended Scottsdale Community College and Arizona State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Nursing Degree. He worked at several local hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic and Honor Health Shea, both in Scottsdale. He enjoyed taking newer nurses under his wing, and sharing his knowledge with them.

While living in Arizona he enjoyed frequent trips up to his parent’s cabin in the mountains of Flagstaff, in order to escape the heat of the Phoenix area. But in 2021, he traded Flagstaff and his beloved bachelor pad in Fountain Hills, to move back to Wisconsin to be with his fiance Carmen Jegers (Jim’s wife, from earlier in this story). Brad loved retelling that love story, to anyone who would listen. Brad and Carmen got married at the South Seas Resort, on Captiva Island, near Sanibel on December 28, 2021. They had a simple, yet beautiful, sunset beachside ceremony. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a smaller than planned wedding party, as COVID took it’s toll on guests who had intended on coming. They were happy they were married before Hurricane Ian come through not quite one year later and destroyed their precious piece of Captiva paradise.

After their wedding, they returned to Wisconsin and settled into their new life together. Brad got an RN job at Froedtert Hospital and worked on a couple of different units there. Every day when he arrived at work, and left work, he would text Carmen kissy emojis to let her know he’d either arrived at work, or was leaving. He was an excellent nurse, winning several Daisy Award nominations from his patients who adored him. He always went the extra mile to make sure his patients were comfortable, and treated them as if they were his own family members. If you’d ask him though, his favorite job was flipping burgers and being trusted to run the shop at M&H in Fargo. Carmen often encouraged him to get back into the burger business, as he probably could have worked his way up to owning his own place, but in the end, he just ran out of time and energy.

Brad grew up with dogs and was able to sweet talk Carmen into adding two Teddy Bear puppies to their family. They named them Beatrix Jean and Bentley James, after family members who had passed, and to carry on the tradition of “B” named dogs from his years growing up. He missed Mr Bo, his parent’s current dog, and couldn’t wait to visit Arizona each time to see him. Brad affectionately called the dogs “The Dudes” or “The Kids”, and he loved snuggles and licky kisses from them. The 3 of them would often take naps together on Brad’s recliner. He was happy to buy them bully stick bones by the boxful, and loved watching them chase each other around the yard.

Speaking of the yard, after the dogs arrived, Brad and Carmen spent more time outside, which led to Brad planning a large scale patio/landscape project in their back yard for everyone to enjoy. He spent many hours outside planning for the renovations, and was revamping things right up until the end. He was very creative and enjoyed starting with a blank canvas and making it his own. He enjoyed tending to campfires in the firepit and couldn’t wait for autumn each year to burn up their raked leaves and dead sticks from the surrounding hedges. There are several touches back there that still remind us of Brad now, most importantly, the Autumn Blaze maple tree right in the center of the backyard, that Carmen bought him for his 50th Birthday.

Brad had several hobbies including listening to music and cooking. One of his favorite toys was his Bose portable music speaker, which he often took outside on the patio, to enjoy his favorite old-time music with. And when he was inside, he enjoyed napping in his recliner while Carmen practiced the piano. When he wasn’t listening to music, the TV was on to create background noise. His favorites were Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, HGTV and the Food Network. He was a “foodie” at heart, taking time to photograph nearly everything that touched his lips. He woke up every day thinking about what they were going to have for dinner. He always offered Carmen the first bite of whatever food he was enjoying. He ate ice cream with a fork, and always saved the best topping filled scoops for Carmen. He loved buffets and topped “za’s” (pizzas) with the most curious collections of ingredients. He once completed a 2# burger challenge (with a little help from others at the table) at a Sanibel FL restaurant. He regretted it later that night, but after the food had passed, he was quite proud of himself. It was not uncommon to see him grilling outside, on one of his two grills, in the dead of winter, and he loved tinkering around cooking large pieces of meat purchased at what he called “Price Club” (Costco). His other specialties included baking his Grandma Horvath’s Christmas cookies each year and big batches of Chex Mix Cereal Treat. He enjoyed frequent trips to Widmer’s Cheese Factory in Wisconsin to purchase cheese selections, including his favorite, 15 year old cheddar.

He loved holidays and the food that came with them, with Halloween and Christmas being his favorites. He was antsy to start the Halloween decorating right after his July 5 birthday each year, with Christmas décor to be put up the day after Halloween. He was famous for leaving his Christmas tree up in Arizona for 5 years straight! He enjoyed stopping at Christmas souvenir shops and bringing home ornaments from his travels, which rounded out his collection of ornaments saved from his childhood days. He talked Carmen into purchasing her first artificial Christmas tree and helped her set it up and decorate it on his first visit back to Wisconsin.

Brad and Carmen enjoyed each other’s company on their travels together, whenever Brad’s time off work allowed. They spent many vacations on the water including Sanibel/Captiva Florida, Panama City Beach and Clearwater Fl, Wisconsin Dells, Door County Wisconsin, Mackinac Island Michigan, and the Maine coast, just to name a few. They had always hoped they would be able to retire by the water at some point.

Brad enjoyed the finer things in life, including cars. His collection of cars over the years consisted of a humble Honda Civic to start, then upgrading to Corvettes, a Cadillac Escalade and finally a 2024 Caviar Black Lexus TX500, his pride and joy. He was so proud it was one of the first to roll off the assembly line. Carmen was quite sure they would never understand half of the technology on the car, but Brad enjoyed driving it back and forth across town and going for frequent car rides anyways. Brad was very concerned about how he presented himself, so among the other finer things he enjoyed were distinctive colognes, Ecco and Mephisto shoes, and tropical Tommy Bahama shirts.

Brad had an infectious smile and a love for life, which makes understanding his sudden death all the more difficult. But anyone that knew him well, knew he had lifelong struggles he was dealing with and wasn’t willing to get help. Unfortunately, the combined love and support of everyone around him was not enough in the end. I’ve especially appreciated all the outpouring of thoughtful messages I’ve received from his co-workers and friends. He made such an impact on everyone he knew. Brad was laid to rest at Paradise Memorial Gardens in Scottsdale, Arizona on August 3. Stop by to visit him if you want, knock on his spot and say “Hi”. We still love him and miss him and he will live on in our hearts forever. Peaceful Rest, Bradley J.

Love, Carmen, Cady, Carly, Bea and Ben

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