Tara Clarice Bryant

Tara Clarice Bryant was known for her bright smile, cheerful disposition and calming presence — until she was rooting for the Royals, Chiefs or Jayhawks.
She was tense and loud until the game clock ran out, no matter how far ahead her team was. Tara often wore KU or KC gear, even if it was just a subtle hat. Her car, her keys, her workspace all represented Kansas. And she loved encountering Kansans in other states or countries, once running over to say hello after she noticed someone wearing a KC hat in Athens.
Tara died unexpectedly Sept. 26 while on a trip in Nashville with her mother, aunts, and grandmother. She was 32.
Tara was born in Fresno, California, but her love for Kansas started early. Her family moved to Lawrence when she was 4. She excelled in school and dreamed of becoming a teacher. To practice, she would teach her younger sister what she learned in class.
Later, like her father, Tara was drawn to the news. She had wanted to be a photojournalist but fell in love with the editing process while working for the University Daily Kansan at the University of Kansas. That led to a Dow Jones News Fund internship in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2014.
She earned her bachelor's degree in journalism in 2015 and then moved to Dallas for a copyediting internship at the Dallas Morning News, which led to a full-time job. Tara was part of the breaking news team named as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for covering the 2016 Dallas police ambush. She joined EY in 2018 as a proofreader and then copyeditor.
Tara never could turn off her editing eye, pointing out copyediting errors in published manuscripts. But she was kind to her family and friends about text message typos.
The observance that made Tara such an excellent copyeditor and wordsmith also made her a spectacular daughter, sister and friend. Tara remembered her friends' and family's preferences and favorite things and celebrated every milestone with even more enthusiasm than she had for her own big events.
She was crafty with a knack for needlework. Her love for a new craft could quickly turn into an obsession and a collection of new supplies. A casual interest in making friendship bracelets for one concert turned into an accumulation of thousands of beads.
Tara loved being a planner, opting to handwrite neat lists and track projects in analog. She was orderly and studious at work, but that trait didn't translate to every aspect of her life. Tara was notorious for packing at the absolute last possible moment for trips. She readily accepted invites for last-minute plans and was willing to go with the flow.
She never threw away her shot to join her family on a big trip, riding her bicycle more than 400 miles across Kansas three times, going to Las Vegas several times (at least three times to see the show Beatles Love and once for a Paul McCartney concert with her dad) and traveling in 2023 to Italy with her mom, dad and sister for a Bruce Springsteen concert. She roadtripped with her family across the country, including car trips to California, Key West, Washington, D.C., Yellowstone, Portland, New York City, Texas, Colorado and too many other places to name.
She traveled to Chicago with a group of friends to see her favorite musical, Hamilton. She saw Beyoncé in New Jersey with friends this past summer; she first saw her in 2000 with her mom when Beyoncé was in Destiny's Child. And she was already planning her next big trip.
She loved music and invested in vinyl copies of her favorite albums. Her sunny disposition may have fooled most people, but her closest friends and family knew Tara was secretly emo. She and her sister went to see Fall Out Boy five times together in four cities.
Tara loved to read, often packing more books than she could carry on any trip. She applied that love to a University of Denver program during the summer of 2021, where she earned a graduate certificate in publishing.
She had the chance to live abroad a couple of times, first in 2004 with her family while her father was teaching in Italy. She also studied abroad in Ghana, Africa, in 2013 as part of the NYU journalism program. She collected friends wherever she lived, leaving behind a vast network.
While Tara's love of words was visible throughout her life, a handful of sentences are incapable of capturing her full essence, and her true spirit continues on in everyone she knew.
She is preceded in death by her brother, Joshua and three grandparents.
She is survived by her parents, Terry and Darlene Bryant, and sister, Eleanor, of Lawrence, Kansas. She is also survived by her grandmother, Shirley Drewrey, 12 aunts and uncles, and 29 cousins. She leaves behind her two goofy, but thoroughly beloved pugs, Stanley and Louie.