William Bryant

William Jefferson "Jeff" Bryant passed from this life to his eternal home on Saturday afternoon, March 31, 2018, at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Jeff was 74 years old and the son of the late Kenneth and the late Fabris Sykes Bryant.
Jeff Bryant was Deputy Sheriff in Ellis County for more than two decades and as well as being a decorated law enforcement officer, he was the instructor for Sheriff Reservists classes for several years for Ellis County.
A member of Heritage Baptist Church for many years, Jeff had been greatly limited in his church attendance since a heart attack in 1997 caused severe embolisms in his legs that resulted in the amputation of his right foot and toes on his left foot.
Jeff was a 1962 graduate of South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas and attended Navarro College before going to Elkins Radio Institute in Dallas where he was certified to be a radio program technician and later a disc jockey. At one time he had his own Jeff Bryant Fan Club due to his time on Corsicana radio station, KAND. He worked for KRLD in Dallas until he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Viet Nam era. Jeff was well known for his professional voice, hosting many events in Ellis County and for a decade or more he had a strong fan base following his transmissions on the ECSO scanner. He was a candidate for Ellis County Sheriff in 1996 and lost in a close runoff election. Mr. Bryant was also a Mason in Waxahachie.
During his military time Jeff served in the Second Conflict in Korea (1968-69) and was honorably discharged after suffering frost bite in his feet while on field operations during the conflict.
Jeff Bryant was married to Karen Cravens Bryant for 23 years. His wife was the first female director of the Ellis County Jail. They had four children: Lowell Glenn Bryant and his wife, Lori, Bryan Cravens and his wife Susan, Julie Forgason and her husband Randall, and Kelly Cravens and his wife Alicia. They have nine grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Mr. Bryant is also survived by his sister, Deborah Bryant Foster, and her husband, longtime friend of Jeff's, Stephen Foster. He is also survived by several cousins, nephews and nieces and a young man he helped along the way (as Jeff did to many young men during his lifetime in law enforcement and military), Carl Price. Jeff's father was a Navy veteran of World War II, he had a nephew who is a 18 year veteran in the US Navy, a grandson who is in the US Army Reserves and had a cousin who died in action in Viet Nam in 1968. His 5x great grandfather, William McClure was a Revolutionary War Veteran and died in the action of the War of 1812. Jeff is a descendant and a leader of a long line of men and women who have served their country.
Jeff Bryant's services will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Rose Hill Cemetery Pavilion in Blooming Grove, Texas. For family and friends, the visitation time at the Wayne Boze Funeral Home on Business Hwy. 287 in Waxahachie is set for Tuesday night, April 3, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Arrangements are under the direction of Wayne Boze Funeral Home in Waxahachie. www.waynebozefuneralhome.com

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