Eddie M. Bryant, Sr

Bryant, Eddie Melvin, Sr., 58, former journeyman carpenter, loving husband, father, and grandfather passed away Thursday, August 18, 2011. He was diagnosed with liver disease in 2007 and received a liver transplant (at KUMC in KC, KS) and a new lease on life in 2008. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and that is what eventually took his life. He enjoyed family vacations, gardening, cooking, hunting, and most of all…helping others find God. Survivors include wife, Linda; children, Gini Scott (Steve), Eddie Bryant Jr. (Tammy), Amelia Bayless (Eli), and Trevor Bryant; grandchildren, Michael Scott, Jesse Scott, Elijah Bryant, and Anastasia Bryant; parents, Harry and Virginia Bryant; sisters, Vicki Carr (Marvin) and Connie Miller, along with numerous nieces and nephews. Celebration of Life Services will be held at 11 AM, Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at Riverlawn Christian Church, 4243 N. Meridian. Burial of ashes will be at Burrton Cemetery, Burrton, KS. In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to The University of Kansas Medical Center, The Liver Center, KU Endowment, 3901 Rainbow BLVD, Kansas City, KS 66160-7804. The good folks at KUMC helped Eddie get through the final years of his life and he was indebted to them. The Liver Center does research that will help future transplant patients, and it was Eddie’s passion to promote all causes related to organ donation.

Eddie Melvin Bryant was born on November 9th, 1952 at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kansas. He joined a family that included his father, Harry Bryant, his mother, Virginia Bryant, and older sisters Vicki, age 4 and Connie, age 2. His father worked as a carpenter and part-time cab driver, and his mother was a housewife, who also did babysitting and laundry. For most of his growing up years, the family lived at 248 S. Hillside. Eddie attended Sunnyside Elementary School, Roosevelt Jr. High, and East High. During his childhood, his father frequently worked jobs in other towns around Kansas. On longer jobs, the family would often go with him and live in these other places for weeks or months at a time. They always kept the Hillside house as their home base, but Eddie spent time and attended school in each of the following places as a child: Cherokee, Emporia, Utica and Oberlin. During his junior year in high school, the family left the Hillside house and moved to Augusta, KS. He graduated from Augusta High in 1970, and by the time he graduated, he had also completed some welding classes through Butler County Community College in El Dorado. At age 17, he started working in a construction job and joined the carpenter’s union. Also at age 17, he got married, to Rhonda Yvonne Riddle. A year or so later, in 1971, their first child, Gini Rae was born. Almost four years after her birth, in 1974, Eddie Melvin Jr. joined the family. This first marriage ended in divorce in 1987. On March 25, 1989, he married again, to Linda Kay Parker. This union was blessed with two children, Amelia Lin, born in 1991 and Trevor Parker, born in 1993. There have been four grandchildren added to the family over the years. Gini and her husband Steve have two boys, Michael (21), and Jesse (15), while EJ (Eddie Jr.) and his wife Tammy have a son, Elijah (7), and a daughter, Anastasia (almost 2). He also recently welcomed a new son-in-law to the family when Amelia married Eli Bayless. Family was very important to Eddie and he did his best to maintain contact and create events to which he could invite family and friends. These events always included food. Eddie loved to eat and he loved to cook. He was always cooking for others and eager to share his skills.
Eddie worked a variety of jobs in his life, beginning when he was only about 10 years old. In his early years, he did such things as: working as a farm hand, pumping gas and changing oil and tires at a gas station, welding rail tank cars, washing dishes and bussing tables at a restaurant, etc. But ultimately, what he settled on as a career was carpentry/construction. He could do just about anything related to construction, and was very good at it, but the jobs he did the most were commercial stud work and dry walling. Those skills will be dearly missed.
He had several hobbies that he enjoyed, but his favorites would have to be cooking/grilling/smoking/baking, various things related to shooting sports, photography, and watching and collecting movies.
Eddie developed liver disease in 2007, received a liver transplant in 2008, then was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2009. This is what finally took his life. But it was a life well-lived. His biggest hope as the end neared was that somehow his suffering could draw others closer to God. He was wholly devoted to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and wanted nothing more than to see others find their way to Him.