Edwin Ray Bryan Sr.

Mr. Edwin Ray Bryan, Sr., of Winnsboro, LA passed peacefully from this life on December 9, 2023, at the age of 92. Mr. Bryan was born on January 11, 1931, to the union of Robert Clifford and Ludie Leona (Johnston) Bryan. He attended Fort Necessity High School and after serving in the US Air Force during the Korean Conflict, he graduated from Northeast Louisiana State College (later Northeast Louisiana University, now the University of Louisiana at Monroe) with a degree in Education. His graduate work was completed at Mississippi College and NLU.  

 

Apart from his military service, Mr. Bryan lived his entire life in Franklin Parish. He married his great love, Mary Pat (Ross) on December 23, 1951, and together they reared their family of four children in the Fort Necessity community. Mr. Bryan was a noted educator, with a long career in the Franklin Parish public schools. He was also a lifelong farmer and rancher of Bryans’ Circle K, a successful businessman representing the Vermeer Corporation, and served on the Boards of Directors for Progressive State Bank and the Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative. Mr. Bryan was an active member of Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church and a pillar of his community, as well as an enthusiastic supporter and an innovative fundraiser who was among the original organizers and founders of the Boeuf Prairie Community Center, the Deep South Rodeo, and the Boeuf Prairie Gin. However, his greatest impact on the world around him is evidenced by the hundreds of lives he shaped during his career as an educator. Beginning as an elementary teacher in Winnsboro and later as principal at Ogden High School, Mr. Bryan was widely esteemed and respected by his administrative colleagues, his faculty, his staff, and his students. Even after leaving the school in 1975 to manage his agricultural businesses full-time, his colleagues and students continued to seek Mr. Bryan’s counsel and enjoy his friendship. He was a hard worker who was not given to hobbies or leisure activities. A relaxing afternoon for Mr. Bryan was to drive his pick-up around the farm to look at the fields and cattle, preferably with his wife seated beside him. He did make exceptions though, for activities which involved his children and large extended family. His friends and family recall sun-drenched afternoons of waterskiing, raucous cheering at high school basketball games, holiday meals with groaning tables, and summertime family reunions with barbecue, fried fish, and lemon icebox pie. After retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Bryan enjoyed an active social life, with extensive international travel as well as domestic trips with family and friends. Edwin Ray Bryan, Sr. will be remembered by all as a loyal friend, a gifted teacher, a diligent worker, a keen observer of life, an advocate for the underserved, and a devoted family man with a playful and mischievous sense of humor.   

 

Mr. Bryan is preceded in death by his parents; his siblings Andrew Kenneth Bryan, Otis Daniel Bryan, Ellen Fay Bryan, John Kermit Bryan, Jesse Aaron Bryan, James Coyt Bryan, Jean Bryan Taylor, and Royce Cecil Bryan; his granddaughter Andrea Bass, and his grandson CWO2 Bryan Henderson.

 

He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Mary Pat (Ross), also of Winnsboro; one sister, Shirley Bryan Mondello of Fort Necessity; four children, Edwin Ray (Michelle) Bryan, Jr. of Fort Necessity, Karin Kim Bryan Henderson of Fort Necessity, James Kyle (Dan Monda) Bryan of Seattle, WA, and Michael Keith Bryan of Fort Necessity; seven grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

 

Funeral services celebrating his life and legacy will be held at 1:00 P.M. Wednesday, December 13, 2023, at the Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church, 4590 Highway 135, Fort Necessity, LA. The Rev. Bobby Ensminger will officiate.  Interment will follow in the Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church Cemetery under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home Winnsboro, LA.

 

The family will receive friends for visitation and remembrances from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Tuesday, December 12, 2023, also at Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church.

 

Pallbearers will be Charlie Smart, Al Bryan, Matt Bass, Corey Kenney, Jesse O’Neal, Jason Delgado, Dyllen Bryan, and Daegan Bryan. Honorary Pallbearers will be James Coyt “Poochie” Bryan, Greg LaCaze, Seth Henderson, Lucas Bryan Monda, Tripp Campbell, Denver O’Neal, and Trace Delgado.

 

Memorials may be made to the Bryan Henderson Memorial Scholarship or to any appropriate charitable organization:

 

Online Registry/ Condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com