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William E. “Bill" Bryant, Jr.
contributed by The Hugo Daily News

William E. “Bill" Bryant Jr. went home to be with the Lord on Thursday evening June 16, 2005. He died at the Ardmore Veterans Center where he had been given wonderful care. He was born January 9, 1930 in Boswell, Oklahoma to William E. “Ernest" and Mary (Duncan) Bryant Sr.

He graduated from Boswell High School. He attended Southeastern State College in Durant where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Eplison Fraternity, and later went to the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He served his country during the Korean War. He was stationed in Korea and Japan. After he returned from the war, he helped in the family business and on the farm. He was a great help to his mother when his sister got sick. Bill was always there to help and to pick up the slack when she was tired. He moved to Oklahoma City and worked for Clarence L. Boyd. While in Oklahoma City, he met his wife Dayna L. (Mann) Bryant and on July 1, 1966 they were married in Yukon, Okla. In 1975 they moved to Durant, where he worked for the Oklahoma State Employment and Security Commission as a veteran's counselor. He retired in 1990, and went to at Kwik Check on West Main, where he worked for ten years.

He was a member of the St. John's Episcopal Church where he had served as Junior Warden. He was a member of the Boswell Masonic Lodge #232 where he was past Worshipful Master. Bill had been a 32degree Mason and a Shriner. He was a past Worthy Patron of the Order of Eastern Star, and past Royal Patron of Wilcutt Court #2, Order of the Amaranth in Boswell. He had also been a member of the White Shrine.

Bill was preceded in death by his sister, Dorothy Ruth Bryant, his father and mother, and his dog Sassy. He is survived by his wife Dayna Bryant of the home; one son William E. “Trey" Bryant III and fiance Mollie Boyce both of Addison, Texas; a brother-in-law Jim Mann and his wife Kathy of Moore, Oklahoma and special friend Jetty Ross. While Jetty taught school at Carnes, she stayed at their home and played marbles with Bill and his sister before they started to school. Also, surviving him are his cousins Jerry Massengale, Sherry Duncan Vansickle of Boswell, Oklahoma; Kay Doss and husband Jim of Dallas, Texas; Linda Taylor of Austin, Texas; Dorothy Curtis and Arleta Curtis of Durant, Oklahoma; Joe Curtis of Bennington, Oklahoma; Charles Curtis of Boswell, Oklahoma; John Curtis of Wichita Falls, Texas; Doyle Wilson of Benton, Arkansas; John Lewis Manous of Boswell, Oklahoma. He is survived by his wife's Aunt Blanche Uptygraft of Oilton, Okla., and her two daughters, Bette Krause and Husband Fred of Atlanta, Ga. and Joanne Denney and Husband Dub of Bristow, Okla.

Services were held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday June 20, 2005 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Durant, Oklahoma. Interment was at Boswell Cemetery in Boswell, Oklahoma in the Bryant family plot. Pallbearers were cousins Terry Curtis, Kenneth Eugene Curtis, and John Massey, and special friends Clent Horner, John Buchanan, and Lee Shattuck. Family hour was held Sunday June 19, 2005 from 6-8 at Dalton-Holmes Funeral Home.

Dalton-Holmes Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Condolences may be sent to the family at dhfh@communicomm.com.

Paid announcement.