Enjoying Life
Purvette Bryant-Chapman with her parents, Purvis L. Bryant, Jr. and Janie Bryant, on her wedding day.
By Purvette A. Bryant-Chapman
Welcome to my new column “Enjoying Life.” Every day, life is meant to be enjoyed with happiness. The happiest day of my life was marrying Rev. Rod Chapman and having my father, Purvis L. Bryant, Jr. proudly walk me down the aisle at age 93. My dad passed away on Oct. 5, 2024. Two months later, my mother, Janie Bryant, 85, passed away on December 8, 2024. I miss them both, but the joyful memories help me to continue enjoying life. My first new column is a tribute to my dad. A tribute to Mom will come soon. My Dad was an amazing, dedicated, hardworking man.
Growing up with my dad was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Daddy was a faithful, hardworking man committed to his family with love and protection. We lived in a multigenerational, four-bedroom, one bath, wood-framed house at 365 Magnolia Street in Cocoa, Florida with dad, mom, my brother Anthony, grandma Blanche Beasley, who was blind, and me. Dad was filled with courage and strength, a hardworking man who wore many hats as our family plumber, carpenter, painter, security officer, lawn keeper, and all-around maintenance man.
In 1974, during hurricane David, a Cat 5 hurricane with winds at 174 miles per hour, the shingles on the tin roof of our house started to lift. I was 10 years old, and the metal roof was starting to peel off. Mom and I stood in the front yard and watched as dad knelt on top of the roof with a hammer and nails to fix the roof, risking his life to save ours and our house. A young man trying to help him. My dad was my hero. When we went to sleep at night, we knew we were protected because dad was there, and the doors were locked.
One of dad’s greatest joys each year, was packing up his family and traveling to his hometown of Newport, NC to visit Grandma Bryant, his brother Ralph, his sisters Dorothy and Ann, sister-in-law Alice and brother-in-law, Ralph Williams, Eric and Jan, grandchildren, all of his aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends, whom he loved dearly. After our visit, he was ready to zip back to the Space Coast of Florida where his passion was the space industry and working as a structural painter, painting rockets and shuttle launch pads hundreds of feet in the air. His love for the aerospace industry was passed on to my brothers and me as we often take time to pause, and watch launches from our front yards.
My father, an Army veteran, brought joy with his laughter and infectious smile. He loves Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior and served God faithfully for more than 30 years. One of the greatest joys he and I had was on Sept. 1, 2023, when at age 93 he walked me down the aisle at Greater St. Paul Baptist Church in Cocoa to be married for the first time to Rev. Rod Chapman, the love of my life. Dad loved and supported all his in their various careers with wisdom, encouragement, and helping his children wherever he could. Whether college, truck driving school or military service, Dad was always there quietly supporting each endeavor. He loved all his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and was proud of them.
He loved his wife Janie of 62 years of marriage who loved dad dearly and took great care of him. Thank you, mom. If Dad had a title, it would be hard work and determination as he dug wells for neighbors, mowed lawns, painted houses in the community, helped whoever he could, and served his church faithfully as a trustee and usher at the back of the sanctuary, as a watchman on the wall for Jesus. If there is a scripture that describes my dad it is Proverbs 20:6, which states “Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?”
Purvis Lenon Bryant, Jr., 94, was born October 7, 1929 in Newport, N.C. He was the third of four children born to Purvis L. Bryant, Sr. and Alexzena Walker Bryant. Daddy was educated in the Carteret County Public School System where he ultimately attended high school classes and served as a star basketball player. He became a Christian at an early age at Walter’s Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Newport where he participated in youth Christmas plays, Sunday School, and sang in a church quartet with family members.
Daddy worked on the family farm throughout his lifetime assisting the family with raising hogs and growing tobacco, cantaloupes, soybeans, corn, and more. He later was drafted into the Army during the Korean War where he faithfully served as a military police officer. After serving his country, Daddy continued to work on the family farm and eventually left Newport for a better life by accepting an opportunity in the late 1950s to apply for employment on the east coast of Florida when the space industry began to boom.
Daddy started work as a janitor at the Cape, later advancing to a structural painter for Pan American Airlines where he and crews of men painted the launch pads that held the rockets and space shuttles for launching. He wasn’t afraid of heights and often scaled the scaffolding hundreds of feet in the air. The paint crews proudly worked in the space industry and saw aerospace advance from the first man on the moon to the space shuttle launches in the 1980s. Daddy often brought home photos of astronauts with other space booklets to educate his family on the aerospace industry he loved. When the space shuttles returned to Earth with a sonic boom, he’d yell, “The astronauts are home!”
Daddy retired from Johnson Controls after 35 years of service and continued to work by serving as a faithful usher and trustee at Mt. Moriah African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cocoa, Florida. He loved his church and happily served as an usher where he greeted parishioners at the door with a program and smile. As a trustee, Daddy could always be counted on to fix problems at the church along with his friend, Charlie Stovall, a trustee as well.
Daddy was a strong, hardworking man who shared with his children instruction, “You can have whatever you want if you’re willing to work hard for it.” He encouraged them to “Study hard and get a head full of knowledge.”
Daddy loved his country, loved being, an Army veteran, and referred to the United States as the most powerful nation in the world. His three sons followed in his military footsteps as Marine and Army servicemen. He left an example of a strong work ethic that included rising early in the morning and accomplishing tasks throughout the day. He loved to mow the lawn, often sitting on his riding lawn mower mowing his properties and sometimes the neighbors too. He mowed the lawn up until age 94 where he often cut the grass at his house with a push mower.
As a little girl, each weekday, before daddy came home from work in a van filled with painters for Pan American, I’d stand in the front yard at the chain linked fence waiting at the gate for him to arrive. He’d get off that truck with a smile on his face as he saw me standing there, waiting for him, his blue Pan Am lunch bag slung over his shoulder. I’d jump up and down yelling Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! So happy to see him as he opened the gate, hugged me, and lifted me up into his strong arms, and carried me into the house.
I enjoyed every moment. One day, he’ll meet me at the gates of heaven with a smile and a hug as he welcomes me in with joy.
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