HOFFMAN — Nann Bryant was born at the beginning of World War I and, a century later, voted in the 2020 election. She died at Pruitt Health on Jan. 22, 2021. She was 103 years old.
Nann was buried at the Caddell-Robertson Private Cemetery on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Pallbearers for her funeral were Richard Bostick, Barry Bostick, L.D. Caddell, Mayor Tommy Hart, Daniel Kelly, and Keene Livingston. Pastor Bill Maness presided over the funeral and told many delightful stories about Nann. Hymns were sung that were her favorites. At the end of the service, each placed a red rose on her casket.
We will always remember her life in her community, especially after her marriage to Don Milton Bryant, teacher, and for many years, mayor of Hoffman. They had three children, Anne Bryant Johns, Jan Bryant Ackerman, and Don Mansel Bryant. After her husband’s death in 1977, she continued her work in the church as an assistant to Mildred Butler on the piano. She was also church treasurer and one of many Sunday school teachers.
Nann also became clerk for the town of Hoffman.
Nann’s passion was flowers. You could see her love for flowers everywhere around her house, especially in the azalea bushes outside her garden, her garage, and all down the driveway. And she had a special gift for flower arrangements. Nothing was more beautiful than arrangements she created for Sunday church services and county school events. Her love for flowers followed her to Pruitt where, before the pandemic, Don’s wife Sandy brought her flower arrangements every week, and Mother enjoyed describing them to us, each one different from the other. And Don filled the yard outside her room with flowers upon flowers and brought birds to her bird bath and feeders. She enjoyed learning the names of the birds amid all those flowers.
One of her gifts to us was her life’s story. I listened to her stories and took word-by-word dictation. After a week or two, I’d send Mother a copy of the dictations for her to correct. We made this exchange innumerable times. It took over two years to complete “My Mother’s Story.” At one stage, Anne and Mother corrected errors on some of the stories, and Mother detailed many of those stories even further.
The voice is Nann’s. I can still hear her when I read “My Mother’s Story” today.
Mother situated her stories before 1932, the year her own Mother died. So “My Mother’s Story” is a tale, in part, of her own Mother, a woman who provided stability to a large home with six children — Clyde, Bill, Roy, Nann, Eloise, and Grace. Nann tells stories about each of her siblings and their relationship to one another. The voice is hers. She still lives in her stories.
She was a wise and loving Mother. We miss her and remember the life she left to us in her stories.
Online condolences may be made at www.watson-kingfuneralhome.com. Watson-King Funeral Home in Rockingham is serving the Bryant family.
