Bryant King Obituary (1967

We remember Bryant Stanley King, whose spirit departed from us on Saturday morning, January 11, 2025 at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas at the age of 57. Bryant is survived by his son Terik Beydler; his mother, Jane Howell; his sister, Sonya Kerr; his brother, Dave Kerr; his brother, Chad Hornback; his niece, Cheney-lynne Emberg; his niece, Kennedy Lane Kerr; and his nephew, Gabriel Stephen Kerr. He is preceded in death by his father, Steve William King and Step-father, Jack Howell. There will be an short & intimate service with the chaplain and followed by Navy Honors at the Houston National Cemetery 10410 Veteran’s Memorial Dr. Houston, Texas 77038 on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 9:15am. Bryant was born March 11, 1967 at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia to Steve William King and Dorothy Jane King. He graduated from Boone County High School in Florence, Kentucky in 1986. He was a kind and loving child and developed a passion for sports of all kinds. A happy and gregarious kid growing up in the 1980’s and enjoyed Cincinnati Reds baseball games and worked for the newspaper, The Kentucky Enquirer as a paper boy. Bryant and his sister, Sonya enjoyed an idyllic life growing up in rural Kentucky sledding through their horse pastures and drinking hot cocoa by the fireplace. Christmases were memorable as the family would cut down the family Christmas tree and joke that it looked like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree! He enlisted in the Navy after high school and spent a portion of his service on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The family was very proud of his service time. After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Bryant began working for The Gehl Group as a concert promoter in Spokane, Washington. He was very successful and became Regional Vice President and ran many offices in the Upper Northwest. During this time, his generosity was evident to all as he loved to take his family and friends to big dinners and celebrate life. Bryant’s business success led him to a career playing Texas Hold ‘Em and he competed and placed in the World Series of Poker on ESPN. He spent over a decade enjoying Terik who had become his son, excelling at sports of all kinds. He was beyond proud of the hard-working young man he became. He was known to walk him into the school when he was a young boy. Bryant would say to his sister, “Do you know some parents drop kids off?? I like to walk in with him!” Later in life, Bryant would tell you that his greatest pleasures were spending time with family. He would say, “My niece Kennedy’s musical productions are way better than any show I ever went to in Vegas!” He would hoop and holler and talk to everyone sitting around him at her NYT theater productions. He loved watching his nephew Gabriel play football as well and was known to roll his wheelchair onto the field to cheer him on. One game after Gabriel had kicked for quite a few points, Uncle Bryant exclaimed, “Hey Gabe! I have one word for you-WEAPON! You are a weapon!” He loved his brother, Dave and thanked him for saving him. He would tell him this almost every other day. He was beyond proud of his niece Cheney and would proudly wear her gifts and loved her visits each time she was in town, but worried about her as she lives so far away. Every call to his sister, which was just about every day, if not multiple times a day, would begin with, “Hey, sissy...so how’s my beautiful sister?” Every. Single. Call. But above all he loved his mama. Even at 57 he seemed like a little boy. Bryant never grew up. He was like Peter Pan. He would lay his head on his mama’s shoulder and say, “I love you mommy.” “You are so beautiful.” In his last years on Earth, Bryant had his health struggles and was on dialysis and in a wheelchair. He survived a tragic accident and several weeks in the ICU with a traumatic head injury after flipping over backwards off a balcony at his home. Love and the good Lord brought him back to live another year with us. His dialysis worker said of Bryant, “Each time Mr. King comes through the door of Davita he says, “Bryant King, reporting for duty.” She said, “Everybody loves Mr. King and he makes us all laugh”. The pain of losing Bryant King is great, but this is not goodbye forever. He has reported for duty in Heaven! We will see him one day soon in glory. He accepted the free gift of salvation and turned his life around and over to The Lord, Jesus Christ. His family got to see him walk with Jesus as best he could and we will all be reunited again someday. There was no one like Bryant. The hole he has left is big. May we all strive to continue Bryant’s legacy: He was generous with encouraging words and uplifting with his compliments, he loved all people and showed it- no matter who or where they come from, and he was joyful even when life is painful for him and he had lost so much. Not a perfect man, but perfectly forgiven and perfectly loved. I love you Bubby, Love, Sissy.