Wilbur Bryant

Wilbur Bryant
November 1, 1933 - December 31, 2021
Sacramento, California - Wilbur Ralph (Bill) Bryant Jr. was born on November 1, 1933 in Hartley, Iowa to Wilbur Ralph Bryant and Mary Florence (Batho) Bryant.
The family lived in Gettysburg, South Dakota for several years where they welcomed a baby girl, Elaine. They moved to Canton, South Dakota in January 1937. Bill graduated from Canton High School in 1951, received his undergraduate degree at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota and graduated from Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, Missouri in 1958. He was married to Betty Connelley of St. Louis in 1958 and they moved to Denver, Colorado where he served a year of internship at Denver General Hospital. After completing an ophthalmology residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota they moved to Sacramento, California where he began his ophthalmology practice and a son Steven Kendall was born in 1965. In 1971 he married Joan Anderson and a daughter Lisa Rene was born in 1976.
Survivors include a son Steven, a daughter Lisa (Hans) Walser and their sons Alexander and Brayden, Lisa's mother Joan Bryant, a sister Elaine Ortmeier and her family, and his special friend and companion Dale Takehara and her family.
He was preceded in death by his parents Wilbur and Mary Bryant, and Steven's mother Betty Bryant.
Bill moved to Sacramento, California in 1965 where he opened his first medical practice. Located halfway between the mountains and the ocean, Bill chose this place on the map to settle down and begin his life as a doctor, husband and father.
He was the first ophthalmologist in Sacramento to do intraocular lens implantation for cataract surgery in the late 1970s -1980's. Upon retirement in the year 2000, Bill began to play golf with friends and remarked that the concentration and quiet state of mind required for playing golf was similar to that of performing eye surgery, and he continued to enjoy this challenge far into his retirement. He also loved traveling throughout the United States; visiting family in the Midwest, frequenting national parks with his friend and companion Dale, visiting his daughter Lisa as she taught in different locations of California, all the while living in his home along the American River parkway and sharing this space with his son, Steven. In fact, living along the river brought him much joy as he took daily runs (and later in life- long walks) down to his local park amidst the towering oaks, wildflowers, and vibrant blue skies. The grace and courage that he exhibited during his long battle with cancer was, in part, due to his active lifestyle in both body and mind. When his light finally extinguished on the eve of the new year, and he began a new life in heaven, his loved ones felt an emptiness that can only be filled with remembrance of his love. He was a man of love and kindness. He will always be remembered as a man of exemplary-thoughtfulness; as a doctor, brother, life-partner, father, and friend.
If you wish to remember Bill with a donation, in lieu of flowers, please send your contributions to his favorite charity The Salvation Army, or his favorite local nature preserve The Effie Yeaw Nature Center.