Wendell Poe Bryant

Wendell P. Bryant, aged 95, died Sunday, February 8, 2015 at a local facility following a brief illness.  He joins his wife Doris (Hale) Bryant who predeceased him.  His mother, Levecha(Poe) Bryant, and two brothers, C.H. and Charles Bryant, also predeceased him.   

Mr. Bryant is survived by two sisters, Barbara Stanfield and Betty Davison; and his cousin A.K. Poe.  He is also survived by four children:  Gail Hathaway (Steve), Joy Billings (Dennis), Wendy Bryant, and Wendell Bryant (Diane); three grandchildren, Andrew, Sarah, and Cody; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Born in Chattanooga on September 11, 1919, and raised in Apison with his siblings among an extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins, he always had stories to tell about the things he learned growing up.  He attended Ooltewah High School where he met his future wife, Doris, and fell in love.  He went off to the army and she went off to college.  They married in 1945 after his discharge.

Wendell is a combat veteran of World War II.  He served in the United States Army Air Corp from 1940 – 1945.  He started with the National Guard at a post in Tullahoma Tennessee.  He became a Technical Sergeant assigned to the 8th Air Force, 305 Bomb Group, 365 Bomber Squadron as a radio operator on a B-17 bomber crew.  He flew 35 daylight precision bombing missions over Germany.

He was a member of the Ooltewah United Methodist Church.  Mr. Bryant retired in 1982from the Tennessee Valley Authority as a “dam” man, having served as a hydroelectric operator at a variety of dams across the state of Tennessee.  He was loved and he will be missed.

On February 12 at 2:00 p.m., the Rev. Amy Nutt, the Rev. Dwight Kilbourne and the Rev. Will Conner will conduct a graveside service in the Chattanooga National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Ooltewah United Methodist Church Capital Campaign Fund.

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