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Written by Ed
Bryant Announcement Gladys Opal Bryant (1907-2007) After a full century of life, Opal Bryant quietly passed away Monday night at the Jackson General Hospital. Mother was born May 5, 1907 in Pontotoc, Mississippi, a day in which Mark Twain was thought to be lost at sea off the coast of Virginia. She was the third child of eleven children born to Reuel Floyd and Etta King McCord. They raised her to be upright and industrious, and they were successful. Being the oldest girl and growing up on the farm meant assisting her mother in the large kitchen and in season, picking cotton. She graduated from high school at Chickasaw College, which had just become co-educational in 1918. Thereafter, Mother took her nursing training in Booneville, Mississippi and very quickly became the Head Nurse of the Operating Room at the local hospital until she married Allen Bryant and moved to Jackson, Tennessee. There were other short moves to Greeneville, Newport and Van Buren, Missouri. But when they returned to Jackson, it was to be their home to raise sons Jim and Ed. They lived on the streets named Burkett, Gordon, Vanden, Morgan and the Christmasville Road with good neighbors and friends she remembered so well. Brewster, Johnson, Luna, Martindale, Watlington, Flippo, Waldrop, Ward, Richardson, Simpson, Jones, Thomas, Brien, White, Melton and Scott. Following a disabling injury to our father in 1956, Mother first learned how to drive a car at age 49 and began her work as a nurse at the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. During her twenty years there, she favored the night shift in order to be home with her children during the daytime. She had many good memories and friends from her hospital station on the 4th South floor. Over the years of retirement, Mother industriously sewed, quilted, kept a large garden, canned food and cooked cakes and pies for all. She faithfully attended Grace Presbyterian Church, but actually maintained her membership in Bethel Methodist Church, the McCord family church in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. All who knew Mother saw clearly in her a quiet spirit and a servant's heart, whether it was in the face of adversity or the joy of children. She never ever complained. Like those of her generation, she well knew the necessity of sacrifice and hard work of life on the farm during the great depression and events like World War II. Her youngest brother survived his airplane being shot down over Poland and being held captive as a POW in a German prison camp. Mother was thrifty in lifestyle, but great in generosity. Most wonderful about our Mother was her steadfast relationship with her Savior Jesus Christ. She shaped her two sons through prayer and example. And now as a result of her pressing and pressing onward, Mother has received her upward call, for which we who remain and those who awaited her in Heaven rejoice! Mother leaves sons Jim Bryant and Lisa and Ed Bryant and Cyndi; grandchildren Michelle Heckl and Karsten; Scott Bryant and Jennie; Chuck Bryant and Emelie; Matt Bryant; Josh Bryant; Drew Bryant and Kitty; and great-grandchildren Shelby Heckl, Reagan Heckl, Noah Bryant, Abby Bryant, Rowan Bryant and Vann Bryant. As well, her sister Katie Lee Dunlap, sisters-in-law Mildred McCord, Helen McCord, Harriett McCord and Martha McCord and many nephews and nieces survive her. There will be a family service at Bethel Methodist Church in Pontotoc, followed by burial alongside our father Allen in the Bethel Cemetery _________________. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials which may be sent to Grace Presbyterian Church, 1046 Campbell Street, Jackson, TN 38301 or Union University, 1050 Union University Drive, Jackson, Tennessee 38305.
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