By John Johnston
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Everybody has a story worth telling. That's the theory, anyway. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear weekly.

Dale and Brenda Bradford with their youngest son Logan in their Anderson Township home. (Thomas E. Witte/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

If Dale and Brenda Bradford are distraught, they sure don't look it.

"People say I'm supposed to be really sad," 48-year-old Brenda says, smiling pleasantly. Dale, 49, also seems to be holding up well.

This week the Bradfords, who live in Anderson Township, entered the ranks of empty nesters when the youngest of their four children left home.

Logan Bradford received his diploma from Turpin High School on Monday. He immediately packed up his car and followed the age-old advice to "Go West, young man." He'll squeeze in a family vacation and a tour with an a cappella singing group before beginning the summer term at Brigham Young University on June 21.

"Of course I'll miss him," says Brenda. As will Dale.

"A lot of people freak out that our children are so far away for college," says Dale, who has his own health-care consulting firm. "But we see them Thanksgiving, Christmas, and at least one or two other times throughout the year."

"And we're happy where they're going to school," adds Brenda, who works part-time for Procter & Gamble.

Both Brenda and Dale are BYU grads. Their oldest child, Summer, 26, who lives in Washington, D.C., is a BYU grad. Collin, 25, attends BYU, as does Alissa, 20. Logan, 18, makes it a Bradford BYU sweep: six for six.

BYU is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Bradfords are life-long Mormons.

The school's honor code "emphasizes being honest, living a chaste and virtuous life, abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, using clean language and following other values encompassed in the doctrines of the Church," BYU's Web site says.

Which is precisely the values the Bradfords have instilled in their children.

When the Bradfords began their family, Brenda left her job as an extension service home economist. She wanted to be home with her children and know what was happening in their schools. For 21 years she's been an active volunteer; twice Turpin's PTA president, once the school's volunteer of the year.

"My philosophy is, you should be there for (the children's) comings and goings, so they can check in," she says. "So they know somebody's here if they need something, and have that connection to home."

Now that Logan and the others are far from home, she can't be around for their comings and goings. No matter.

"I feel like I have done my homework," Brenda says. "I have done what I needed to do to get them where they are now."

They're all quite different. Summer, the first born, is a natural leader. Collin is the free thinker, creative and bright. Alissa is the most social.

And nothing ruffles Logan, who gets along with everyone.

His parents aren't ruffled either. As Brenda and Dale Bradford watched their youngest child graduate this week, they too, felt ready to greet the future.

E-mail jjohnston@enquirer.com