Alpha "Al" Clark Bryant

Bryant Services Held Here Sat.

Funeral services for Al C. Bryant of Riverton were held at the Peet Chapel at 2:00 p.m. Saturday with the Rev. Theodore Foster in charge.

Mrs. Emerson Bonner and Mrs. A. F. DeCastro sang "Going Home" and "God Be With You" with Mrs. J. P. Watson as organist. Pallbearers were: Joe Klemke, Joe Jones, Ed Cook, Earl Jensen, Roger Percival and Lou Osborne. Honorary bearers were: C. E. Marvin, Ray DeGering, Albert DeGering, Emerson Himes, Dudley Fields and Rulo Roberts. Burial was in the Lusk Cemetery.

Alpha Clark Bryant was born July 11, 1875, in Minburn, Ia., next to the youngest of ten children of John and Chloe Bryant. As a young man he moved to Alpena, S. Dak., where he engaged in farming. In 1911 he married Pearl Hunter and the next year moved to a homestead in the Hat Creek community. In that year he was instrumental in bringing to justice two horse thieves who were a part of an organized gang operating in the northern part of what was then Converse County. Later that year his homestead buildings were burned by the remainder of the gang. The homestead was rebuilt and his two sons were born there.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Bryant took an active part in getting the first school established in the Hat Creek community. They participated in community affairs, particularly 4-H clubwork, and contributed substantially to the development of Niobrara County as an important turkey producing area in the 1920's. Mrs. Bryant died in 1934.

Mr. Bryant was very successful in developing farming and ranching methods which were suited to the semi-arid conditions of Niobrara County. In particular, by careful selection he developed a variety of corn which matured early and withstood drought.

In 1941 he married the former Mary Ellen Leffingwell and they continued on the ranch until poor health forced his retirement. After selling the ranch in 1945 they moved to Lusk and operated a motel until 1949. At that time they moved to Fremont County and lived in the Eight Mile, Riverton and Shoshoni communities until Mr. Bryant's death February 20.

His elder son, Charles, is an engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation at Riverton and his younger son, Edward, is professor of mathematics at Arizona State University. Other survivors are his wife, a stepdaughter, Gertrude Lee, a sister, Mrs. C. E. Bryant of Manilla, Ia., seven grandchildren.

The Lusk Herald
February 22, 1962
A. C. Bryant Dies In Riverton Wed.

Al C. Bryant, 86, a rancher in the Hat Creek community for 38 years, died in the Riverton hospital Wednesday morning after an illness of three years. He entered the hospital December 28.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Edward of Tempe, Ariz. and Charles of Riverton; a sister, Miss Carrie Bryant of Manila, Ia.; a step-daughter, Mrs. Robert Lee of El Paso, New Mex.; and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the Peet chapel in Lusk at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.

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