{"id":3260,"date":"2011-01-31T19:09:56","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T00:09:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=3260"},"modified":"2011-01-31T19:09:56","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T00:09:56","slug":"popular-retired-educator-dies-suddenly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=3260","title":{"rendered":"Popular Retired Educator Dies Suddenly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A popular Tampa educator who continued to work for youngsters long after her retirement passed suddenly. Born March 4, 1935, <strong>Mrs. Mary Montgomery Bryant<\/strong> was 75 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Her son, <strong>Edward, <\/strong>said <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> called him on Sunday complaining about her back hurting. He called 9-1-1 and when he arrived at his mother\u2019s home, she was being transported to St.   Joseph\u2019s Hospital. She suffered an aneurysm, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was not something expected. She was not ill other than the usual problems that come with her age. She attended the Excellence in Awards program Thursday night and talked with friends on Saturday night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>During her tenure as an educator, <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> became a pioneer in the Hillsborough County Public  School District. In 1986, <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> was appointed as the Area Director of Area II, becoming the first African American woman to hold this position. In 1992, <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> accomplished another first when she was chosen as the Assistant Superintendent for Support Services.<\/p>\n<p>[private]A Tampa native, <strong>Mrs. Bryant <\/strong>attended the public schools of Hillsborough County. She graduated from Middleton  High School in 1951. <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> received an undergraduate degree in Education from Bethune-Cookman College, her Master\u2019s Degree from Florida A &amp; M University; and her Ph.D. Degree from the University  of South Florida.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mrs. Bryant\u2019s<\/strong> career in Hillsborough County began in 1968 as a Learning Specialist at Henderson  Elementary School.<\/p>\n<p>She continued her career as an educator, becoming Principal of Philip Shore Elementary School and Principal of Roland Park Elementary School.<\/p>\n<p>She retired as an educator in 1997. In 2002, Mary Bryant  Elementary School was named in her honor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mrs. Bryant <\/strong>and the late <strong>Dr. Sam Horton<\/strong> were the founders of the Hillsborough Alliance of Black School Educators, Inc.<\/p>\n<p>Her concern for the education of children never ended. \u201cShe was always giving advice relating to education in the community. She has also mentored many educators. She never stopped, she was always busy,\u201d <strong>Edward Bryant<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> was married to the late <strong>Theodore O. Bryant,<\/strong> who passed in November 2006, and they were the parents of three sons, <strong>Carl, Edward, <\/strong>and<strong> Lionel. <\/strong>They also have 5 grandsons and 4 granddaughters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> was a founding member of Agape Christian Church and was very proud of their new facility. The church marched into the new building, corner of N. 43<sup>rd<\/sup> Street and E. Osborne, in December 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services for <strong>Mrs. Bryant<\/strong> were incomplete as of press time. Ray Williams Funeral Home is in charge of handling arrangements. [\/private]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor A popular Tampa educator who continued to work for youngsters long after her retirement passed suddenly. Born March 4, 1935, Mrs. Mary Montgomery Bryant was 75 years old. Her son, Edward, said Mrs. Bryant called him on Sunday complaining about her back hurting. He called 9-1-1 and when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}