Larry Charles Bryant (1946 - 2017)

Born 23 Jan 1946 in Albuquerque, Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States

Ancestors

Died 23 Jul 2017 at age 71 in Colorado, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: K Bryant [send private message]

Biography

Larry was born on or about January 23rd, 1946 in or around Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was raised by loving parents, Raynard and Doris Jo (Dunning) Bryant, whose experience in rescuing high risk foster children gave Larry a good home and the support he needed early in life. He was preceded in death by his parents. Larry grew up in Albuquerque. He enjoyed swimming, inner-tubing, spending time in the mountains, fishing, and camping. He was a Boy Scout. He was on the track team, and is reported to have been an excellent pole-vaulter. He played football, basketball, and was on the swim team, and was also very good at this. Larry was a fair trumpeter in his day, and enjoyed listening to Bert Kaempfert and Herb Alpert. He graduated from Sandia High School in 1964. After graduation, Larry enlisted in the Navy. He was a helicopter mechanic who served his county honorably during the Viet Nam War. After leaving active duty, he resettled in Albuquerque and finished his reserve obligation with a unit in Texas. Larry followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the Local 412, Plumbers and Pipefitters Union, where he would eventually become as Master Plumber / Pipefitter. A combination of Wickham dressed as Darcy and Mr. Spock, Larry was very well read in subjects of his interest; among them physical and earth sciences, astronomy, physics, philosophy, fact based mysteries, and science fiction. He had a better than passing knowledge of the classics, but it is clear that he preferred what he understood to be more “logical” reading. A child of the Cold War, Larry was concerned about the world around him and the impact of current events in relation to possible future outcomes. His knowledge and theories were decades ahead of others in the fields of telephony, functional architecture, robotics, and automation. He also took several goes at designing residential solutions for a potential housing crisis. Larry was rigid in his convictions and he never wavered from them or apologized for them. A thorough researcher, Larry was measured in his decision making and remained convinced by his findings. He was often frustrated that people did not did fully understand or share his views. Larry was always “willing to go where the work was,” a characteristic he instilled and insisted upon. He was a stern task master and others’ abilities to pay attention to details were very important to him. Larry attempted to write more than one book, and a few chapters of his most notable attempt, A Guide to Bogey Golf, survive today. It was a dry and witty sendup of a sport he loved, but at which he didn’t excel. He was a decent cook, using secret family recipes. It should be noted that much like a certain spokesdog for a brand of baked beans, Larry was not good at keeping the secret part of “secret recipes,” and his family was forced to stop sharing them with him. He continued to use the ones already acquired, and started investing in publicly available, not secret cookbooks. He did fine with those recipes too. Larry quite enjoyed country music, especially harmony groups. He fancied himself a dancer of sort. Though this wasn’t seen, it was spoken of, and evoked comical images for his children. Who knows, he may have been good at it. Perhaps he read a book about it and learned that way. In his later years, in an attempt to connect to the future, to the past, and to others, Larry developed into something of a genealogist, re-constructing and documenting an extensive family history. Larry’s life was often chaotic and it was sometimes unclear whether his “passive observer” personality was the cause or the result of the chaos. He was a hard man to know. Witty and charming when it didn’t matter, and not so much when it did, he was able to carry on meaningful, engaging, though slightly lopsided, conversations on a great many topics, but was largely unaware of the common everyday things that may have been important to others. He could, and did, expound on minutiae of the big picture, but often failed to realize everyone else was looking out the window. Larry passed away on July 23rd 2017, in Colorado. He is survived by a daughter, a son, and six grandchildren. In May, 1977, Larry stood with his daughter in the hot Texas sun, waiting hours for the premiere of Star Wars. While they waited, he described the significance of the event, discussing the unlimited potential for groundbreaking special effects and new directorial styles. He recounted other science fiction movies and television shows, explaining that this was different and unique and important. His daughter thought it was hot outside.

Sources

• Unsourced family tree handed down to K Bryant.

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 27 July 2020, 05:52), entry for Larry Charles Bryant(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G7LD-X89); contributed by various users.
• U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2 Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 1732

• Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.Ancestry Family Tree Ancestry Family Tree 72867579

• U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 1 Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 1788

• U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 1265

• Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Marriage Index, 1888-2017 Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 61581

• U.S., Index to Public Records, 1994-2019 Publication: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Record Collection 62209