Frank Bryant Sr. was a popular gospel singer who loved to tell stories and jokes, but he also was known as someone who cared about others.
Mr. Bryant, 93, died Sunday morning at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Ill. Services will be at noon Saturday at New Green Grove Church of Faith, and visitation will be from 1 to 7 p.m. Friday at Century Funeral Home.
Mr. Bryant’s granddaughter-in-law, Nicole Kneeland-Woods, said he will be remembered for his sense of humor as well as his musical talent.
“He was a people person that everyone loved,” she said, adding that he had a natural tendency “to give back to others and to also put others before himself.”
A native of Teoc and former resident of Greenwood, he had moved to Joliet, Ill., in September 2011 to be nearer to relatives there.
In accordance with tradition, when his family got together last Thanksgiving, they all said what they were thankful for, Kneeland-Woods said.
“He looked around and said he was just thankful for his family and just being here, and he broke out into song and Scripture,” she said, “and it was just the most heartfelt Thanksgiving that I know all of us there will remember.”
She didn’t know that would be her last Thanksgiving with him, but she was able to record his performance on her phone. It’s not the highest-quality recording, but “it’s just like a treasure now,” she said.
Mr. Bryant was born April 14, 1918, to the Rev. C.W. and Annie Bell (McCain) Bryant. He attended Mitchell Springs School and worked on his family’s farm.
He worked for Barrentine Factory and Century Funeral Home for many years and also worked at Great Southern and Redmond and Redmond funeral homes.
He also earned a reputation as a traveling singer, performing in many cities with his brother, W.T. Bryant, and his cousin, Sammy “The Lil Midget Gospel Singer” Bryant.
They didn’t make much money; in fact, sometimes they performed outside the state and didn’t make enough to pay for the trip home. But he wasn’t doing it for the money. In a 2011 interview, he said that’s why he never had recordings of his singing made.
“When I was a boy coming up, they used to tell me it’s bad luck to sell your voice,” he said. “And I never did worry about it.”
Still, he loved music enough to continue performing past the age of 90. His favorite songs were “Few More Days,” “Just One Moment” and “Don’t Forsake Me.”
“Whatever event he was going to, he was definitely going to be the one to get on the program and sing a song,” Kneeland-Woods said.
Mr. Bryant made a point of helping others regularly, said his eldest daughter, Thelma Miller.
“He said if he didn’t help someone every day, his day wouldn’t be made,” she said.
For a long time, he took vegetables that had been discarded from Greenwood Market Place but were still good and gave them to the needy. He also would give people rides if they needed them — even as far as Chicago, Detroit or St. Louis.
Miller, who said she was “always the daddy’s baby,” remembered chopping wood, picking cotton and doing other work on the family farm with her siblings — and she said she didn’t mind doing it. “We just wanted to be with my daddy,” she said.
Once he moved to Illinois, he made friends quickly there, too, she said: “People around here who met him, they loved him because he had something going on with someone all the time.”
Late in life, even though he was tired, he kept a smile on his face and a sense of humor, Kneeland-Woods said. He became known for the blue cap that he always wore — even while in a hospital bed — and now he will be buried wearing it.
“That was just him,” Kneeland-Woods said. “The nurses loved that, the doctors loved that and everyone knew that was Frank Bryant.”
Mr. Bryant was married to the former Lou Emma Coleman for more than 32 years before her death in 1972. He is survived by seven daughters and one son from that marriage; one son from a second marriage; two sisters, 33 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.
• Contact David Monroe at 581-7236 or dmonroe@gwcommonwealth.com.
