Obituary of Oceana Cavenaugh Bryan ~ 1975
Source: Dunn Daily Record Oct 6 1975
Final Rites Set For Mrs. Bryan
Mrs. J. Shepard Bryan, 81, long prominent in civic, religious and social
affairs of Dunn, died Sunday morning in Betsy Johnson Memorial Hospital.
She had been in declining health for the past year.
She was the widow of Attorney J. Shepard Bryan, who died in November,
1974. Her husband was the retired senior partner in the law firm of
Bryan, Jones, Johnson, Hunter, and Greene.
Born in New Berry, S.C., Mrs. Bryan was reared in the Southport-Wilmington
area and attended school there. Following her graduation from Woman's
College in Greensboro, she taught at the Cornelius Harnett School in
Wilmington. She married Mr. Bryan in Wilmington shortly thereafter and
the couple moved to Wilson, where he was principal of Charles L. Coon
High School.
The couple moved to Dunn in 1926 when Mr. Bryan was appointed principal
of the Dunn District Schools. Mrs. Bryan taught in the local public
schools until 1945 when she was appointed principal of Magnolia Avenue
School, a position she held until her retirement in 1960.
Mrs. Bryan was a member of Divine Street United Methodist Church and
served as church organist for many years.
She was a member of the Phi Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an education
society, and a member of the Chicora Chapter of the United Daughters of
the Confederacy and had served the organization as president for two
terms. Mrs. Bryan was also a past district director for the UDC in
Harnett, Lee and Moore Counties.
She was also a member of the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century and a
past president of the Tuesday Review Book Club.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Divine Street United
Methodist Church. Officiating will be her pastor, Dr. Robert McGee, and
the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Rev. Grant Sharp.
Burial will be in Greenwood Cemetery.
Those desiring to do so can make a contribution to "Mr. and Mrs. J.
Shepard Bryan Scholarship Trust Fund at Campbell College.
The family will be at the Bryan residence on Fairfield Circle and will
receive friends at Cromartie-Pearsall Funeral Home from 7:00 to 9:00
Monday night.
Surviving are two sons, Robert C. Bryan, the senior partner of the Bryan,
Jones, Johnson, Hunter and Greene law firm, and J. Shepard Bryan, Jr., of
Jacksonville, Fla., an executive at the home offices of Winn-Dixie; two
brothers, Charles I. of Wilmington and James B. Cavenaugh of Tampa, Fla.;
three sisters, Mrs. Lucille Cavenaugh of Saratoga, N.Y., Miss Mary
Cavenaugh of Atlanta, Ga. and Mrs. Sterry H. Childs of Kerrville, Texas;
also eight grandchildren.
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