Calvin Bryant

CALVIN WINN BRYANT, 85, of Christiansburg, VA, died on October 14, 2009 at Kroontje Health Care Center in Blacksburg, after several years of declining health.

He was born on January 5, 1924 in Pittsylvania County, VA, the son of Matthew James and Kate Winn Bryant. After completing high school, he served our country in the US Army during World War II, and later graduated from National Business College in Roanoke. He was quickly hired as an accountant by a newly-formed electrical construction company, and met his wife of 53 years in Christiansburg, VA. After their marriage on New Year's Eve in 1948, they moved to Huntington, WV, where the Keystone Construction Company became based. They were members of the Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday School and served on various committees. In the summer months he enjoyed flower and vegetable gardening, and watching Cincinnati Reds baseball.

In 1972, after the Keystone company was acquired by Ohio-based Hoosier Engineering Company, and later by the L.E. Myers Group of Chicago, IL, the couple moved back to Christiansburg, from which he continued to work for the last 17 years before his retirement, in various locations including Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia. He developed colon cancer within a few months after retirement, but was a twenty year survivor. The couple attended Blacksburg Baptist Church and Blacksburg Presbyterian Church while their son was serving as the church organist and choir director at the churches.

He was predeceased by his father and mother, his wife Nora Agnes Bryant, and a sister, Arlene Bryant Blackstock. He is survived by a son, James Robert Bryant, of Blacksburg, several sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, and a number of nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. He was entirely devoted to the needs of his wife and son, including care giving during his wife's final months, after he had just recovered from hip surgery.

Home Funeral Service is in charge of funeral arrangements. His family will receive visitors on Saturday, October 17 at 12:00 PM at the funeral home on North Franklin Street in Christiansburg. The funeral service will immediately follow at 2:00 PM, with Rev. Charles Taylor and Rev. Susan Verbrugge officiating. Interment will follow at Roselawn Cemetery. Flowers are welcome, but you are encouraged to consider a memorial donation to your church or a medical research charity. Special thanks are due to the many wonderful doctors, skilled nurses, and nursing assistants who have served his needs during the past four years at Montgomery Regional and Lewis Gale Hospitals, Radford Nursing, Richfield, and Kroontje Health Care Centers.