John Calvin Bryant was born into a Gatsby-like world very different than the one we experience in the 21st century. Though he was too young to fully appreciate the Roaring 20’s, he still had a happy childhood full of exploration and nature. Growing up during the Depression affected his life in many ways, from his temperament to the anatomy of his town. When he went off to war, he served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps and when he came back home as a civilian, he was so involved with the town that it’s no wonder he’s often referred to as “the father of Cochituate”.
John Calvin Bryant was born on September 11th, 1924 to Calvin Herman Bryant and Annie Sophia (Hook) Bryant Stanley in Milford, Massachusetts. A lifelong resident of Cochituate, John experienced a blissful childhood during the Roaring 20’s, where he spent his free time curiously peeking through the windows of the Mansion Inn. During an interview on May 23rd, 2004, John recalled that his fondest memories included “running up the terraces and rolling down them.” He continues, “As a kid we used to catch huge bullfrogs at Dudley Pond and sell the back legs to the Mansion Inn and they would give us 8 or 10 cents a leg, because frog legs were and still are a real delicacy. We sat on the grass around the edges to watch the wrestlers. That was the entertainment in those days.”
John attended the Cochituate Grammar School where he met his future wife, Lorraine Frances Campbell, in his first grade classroom. Lorraine, born on November 11th, 1923, had grown up in Charlestown and used to spend her summers vacationing at Dudley Pond until her family moved to Cochituate when she was 4 or 5 years old. John and Lorraine went to school and graduated together until John left to go into the service a year after his graduation.
As a young 12-year-old boy, John worked at the Gibbs Memorial Funeral Home. He would deliver flowers and park cars, where he fully enjoyed assisting the Gibbs family in their mortuary business. However, John was surely aware of the trouble outside of his sweet Cochituate bubble. The Great Depression spurred the creation of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, which dedicated a lot of money towards putting people to work. In fact, the newly-built Wayland High School that John would attend was funded by the program. John was a member of the Wayland High School Class of 1942. He was an Honor Roll student who was the running back for the varsity football team for four years where he “proudly wore” the number 21. He also participated in ice hockey and spent his weekends on Dudley Pond where he designed and built his own motor boats, played ice hockey, and enjoyed ice fishing with his fellow “townies”. However, this life of ease and comfort wouldn’t last. In March of 1943, a year after his graduation he, along with many young men just like him, would leave Wayland to fight in the Second World War.
John left Wayland with a feeling of pride, honor, and responsibility in defending his country. He felt that it was his duty to enlist. When serving, Lorraine wrote to John all the time. His daughter, Cynthia Bryant, still has a box full of the letters they wrote to one another.
John did his basic training in at Arkansas A&M. He served our country with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the 333rd Troop Carrier Squadron as a Staff Sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theater. The United States was trying to figure out how we were going to arm the Chinese nationalists against our common enemy, the Japanese. We couldn’t access the nationalists from the Pacific, because there was a blockade by Japanese occupiers. So, in the China-Burma-India Theater, our goal was to come from the west and arm the Chinese that way. John participated in this effort. His whereabouts are known during the Winter of 1945 to 1946, for he wrote to the Cochituate Jeep with updates. He revealed that he was stationed in India with the AAF and wrote that he “finds customs of the people in India very interesting.” Later, he was transferred from India to Burma. From Burma he moved to China, where he transported Japanese prisoners of the Nippon Empire. He received his discharge from Fort Devens on January 16th, 1946. At some point in his enlistment, he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. At the end of the war John left Shanghai, China to arrive in Seattle, Washington. From there, he returned to his home on Lake Shore Drive after 3 years of service. John Bryant received a Bronze Star of outstanding service to his country, the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon, three battle stars, the American Theater Ribbon and the Good Conduct ribbon.
Other stories of his time in the war were published in the Jeep as well. Although the Japanese had cleared out of the location at which he resided, he spoke about how there were still signs that said “Death to Americans” which had been signed by a Japanese officer in the shacks where the Americans had set up their supply rooms. He also mentioned that he had recently been in a location that “was very poor for one’s health” and but that he had moved to a drier place where they slept in shacks made of grass and bamboo. However, he mentions that these “bashees” (the name of the shacks) had many insects in them. Furthermore, he described how water was scarce because it had to be carried 18 miles round trip before they could drink it or bathe in it. His daughter Cynthia recalls that when she was a child, John would tell her stories about how he had to look out for the monkeys in India because they used to come out and steal things all around him and take off with his belongings.
During his time in the war, it is clear that the Cochituate Jeep was valuable entertainment for him. In one of his letters home, he mentioned that “here in the jungles we have very little entertainment, practically nothing” but that he found “additional enjoyment in rereading the copies of the Jeep” that had previously been sent to him. Several Waylanders sent him a Christmas package which he received on January 20th, which no doubt contained copies of the town newsletter. His mother received word that he had “received two copies of the Jeep and it’s really a wonderful paper for the servicemen and women, and if the rest of them find it as enjoyable as I have, then the effort put into its publication is well worthwhile.” He continues, “The picture on the cover of the second issue looks darn good to my eyes,--good old main street with plenty of snow. Looking at the piles of snow cooled me off.”
Although John was proud to serve his country, he expressed anxiety about how he and his fellow soldiers would fit in back home once the war ended. While he was stationed somewhere in India, he sent the following poem to his mother:
John Calvin Bryant was born on September 11th, 1924 to Calvin Herman Bryant and Annie Sophia (Hook) Bryant Stanley in Milford, Massachusetts. A lifelong resident of Cochituate, John experienced a blissful childhood during the Roaring 20’s, where he spent his free time curiously peeking through the windows of the Mansion Inn. During an interview on May 23rd, 2004, John recalled that his fondest memories included “running up the terraces and rolling down them.” He continues, “As a kid we used to catch huge bullfrogs at Dudley Pond and sell the back legs to the Mansion Inn and they would give us 8 or 10 cents a leg, because frog legs were and still are a real delicacy. We sat on the grass around the edges to watch the wrestlers. That was the entertainment in those days.”
John attended the Cochituate Grammar School where he met his future wife, Lorraine Frances Campbell, in his first grade classroom. Lorraine, born on November 11th, 1923, had grown up in Charlestown and used to spend her summers vacationing at Dudley Pond until her family moved to Cochituate when she was 4 or 5 years old. John and Lorraine went to school and graduated together until John left to go into the service a year after his graduation.
As a young 12-year-old boy, John worked at the Gibbs Memorial Funeral Home. He would deliver flowers and park cars, where he fully enjoyed assisting the Gibbs family in their mortuary business. However, John was surely aware of the trouble outside of his sweet Cochituate bubble. The Great Depression spurred the creation of the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, which dedicated a lot of money towards putting people to work. In fact, the newly-built Wayland High School that John would attend was funded by the program. John was a member of the Wayland High School Class of 1942. He was an Honor Roll student who was the running back for the varsity football team for four years where he “proudly wore” the number 21. He also participated in ice hockey and spent his weekends on Dudley Pond where he designed and built his own motor boats, played ice hockey, and enjoyed ice fishing with his fellow “townies”. However, this life of ease and comfort wouldn’t last. In March of 1943, a year after his graduation he, along with many young men just like him, would leave Wayland to fight in the Second World War.
John left Wayland with a feeling of pride, honor, and responsibility in defending his country. He felt that it was his duty to enlist. When serving, Lorraine wrote to John all the time. His daughter, Cynthia Bryant, still has a box full of the letters they wrote to one another.
John did his basic training in at Arkansas A&M. He served our country with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the 333rd Troop Carrier Squadron as a Staff Sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theater. The United States was trying to figure out how we were going to arm the Chinese nationalists against our common enemy, the Japanese. We couldn’t access the nationalists from the Pacific, because there was a blockade by Japanese occupiers. So, in the China-Burma-India Theater, our goal was to come from the west and arm the Chinese that way. John participated in this effort. His whereabouts are known during the Winter of 1945 to 1946, for he wrote to the Cochituate Jeep with updates. He revealed that he was stationed in India with the AAF and wrote that he “finds customs of the people in India very interesting.” Later, he was transferred from India to Burma. From Burma he moved to China, where he transported Japanese prisoners of the Nippon Empire. He received his discharge from Fort Devens on January 16th, 1946. At some point in his enlistment, he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. At the end of the war John left Shanghai, China to arrive in Seattle, Washington. From there, he returned to his home on Lake Shore Drive after 3 years of service. John Bryant received a Bronze Star of outstanding service to his country, the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon, three battle stars, the American Theater Ribbon and the Good Conduct ribbon.
Other stories of his time in the war were published in the Jeep as well. Although the Japanese had cleared out of the location at which he resided, he spoke about how there were still signs that said “Death to Americans” which had been signed by a Japanese officer in the shacks where the Americans had set up their supply rooms. He also mentioned that he had recently been in a location that “was very poor for one’s health” and but that he had moved to a drier place where they slept in shacks made of grass and bamboo. However, he mentions that these “bashees” (the name of the shacks) had many insects in them. Furthermore, he described how water was scarce because it had to be carried 18 miles round trip before they could drink it or bathe in it. His daughter Cynthia recalls that when she was a child, John would tell her stories about how he had to look out for the monkeys in India because they used to come out and steal things all around him and take off with his belongings.
During his time in the war, it is clear that the Cochituate Jeep was valuable entertainment for him. In one of his letters home, he mentioned that “here in the jungles we have very little entertainment, practically nothing” but that he found “additional enjoyment in rereading the copies of the Jeep” that had previously been sent to him. Several Waylanders sent him a Christmas package which he received on January 20th, which no doubt contained copies of the town newsletter. His mother received word that he had “received two copies of the Jeep and it’s really a wonderful paper for the servicemen and women, and if the rest of them find it as enjoyable as I have, then the effort put into its publication is well worthwhile.” He continues, “The picture on the cover of the second issue looks darn good to my eyes,--good old main street with plenty of snow. Looking at the piles of snow cooled me off.”
Although John was proud to serve his country, he expressed anxiety about how he and his fellow soldiers would fit in back home once the war ended. While he was stationed somewhere in India, he sent the following poem to his mother:
THE RECONVERSION
When bugles sound their final notes
And when bombs explode no more
And we return to what we did
Before we went to war,
The sudden shift of status
On the ladder of success
Will make some worthy gentleman
Feel like an awful mess.
Just think of some poor captain
Minus all his silver bars
Standing up behind some counter
Selling peanuts and cigars;
And think of all the majors
When their oak leaf’s far behind
And the uniform they’re wearing
Is the Western Union kind.
Shed a tear for some poor colonel
If he doesn’t feel himself.
Jerking sodas isn’t easy
When your eagle’s on the shelf.
‘Tis a bitter pill to swallow,
‘Tis a matter for despair;
Being messengers and clerks again’s
A mighty cross to bear.
So be kind to working people
That you meet where’er you go,
For the guy who’s washing dishes
May have been your old C.O.
When bugles sound their final notes
And when bombs explode no more
And we return to what we did
Before we went to war,
The sudden shift of status
On the ladder of success
Will make some worthy gentleman
Feel like an awful mess.
Just think of some poor captain
Minus all his silver bars
Standing up behind some counter
Selling peanuts and cigars;
And think of all the majors
When their oak leaf’s far behind
And the uniform they’re wearing
Is the Western Union kind.
Shed a tear for some poor colonel
If he doesn’t feel himself.
Jerking sodas isn’t easy
When your eagle’s on the shelf.
‘Tis a bitter pill to swallow,
‘Tis a matter for despair;
Being messengers and clerks again’s
A mighty cross to bear.
So be kind to working people
That you meet where’er you go,
For the guy who’s washing dishes
May have been your old C.O.
Following the war, John successfully returned to civilian life upon his return. He continued his education at Arkansas A&M college and received instruction in AAF Administration. He continued to serve his country at Stout Field, Indiana as the chief personnel clerk of HQ 1st, T.C.C. There, he helped to process men and women who were returning from the war and transitioning back to civil life. A year later, he and Lorraine got married, built a home on Old Connecticut Path (home number 419), and had three children. During this time, John established a contracting business. However, his love for funeral homes had stayed with him ever since he worked at the Gibbs Memorial Funeral Home as a kid, and he decided he wanted to open his own. After being out of school and college for quite a while, he returned in when he was 39 years old in 1965 for mortuary studies at the New England Institute of Anatomy. His hope was to become a funeral director and embalmer. He drove in and out of Boston for four nights a week for two years, all the while maintaining his contracting business during the day.
Through all of this hard work, Lorraine supported John. She worked nights while he worked days and they worked it all out without their children ever knowing about it. In the end, John graduated first in his class with a 3.98 GPA, having taken chemistry, biology, microbiology, and psychology courses, among others. The John C. Bryant Funeral Home was founded in 1968, and it will be celebrating its 51st anniversary this June.
In his later life, John was a dedicated public servant to Wayland. He was the Wayland Park and Recreation commissioner where he established baseball and soccer fields for the town; was an advocate for the cemeteries in Wayland; was an active member of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association, the National Funeral Directors Association, the Dudley Pond Association, Sudbury Valley Trustees, Wayland Historical Society, the Cochituate Preservation Association, and Wayland Business Association, where he was one of the founders; was a lifelong member of the Community United Methodist Church where he served for more than 30 years as an usher and on many of the church committees; was a member of VFW Post 6260 of Wayland; and was a member of the American Legion Lafayette Post 57 of Old Orchard Beach, Maine and the Meridian Lodge AF & AM of Natick; served the town of Wayland as an Allen Fund Trustee (1972-2005), Historic District Commission (1974-1998), McManus Planning Committee (1985 - 1986), agent for the Board of Health (1988-2005), Park and Recreation Commission (1979-1990), and the Historic Commission (1979-1990); and was the assistant to the chairman of the Veterans of Foreign Wars association. John enjoyed his summers on Grand Beach at Old Orchard with his wife, three children, and many grandchildren, many of whom are still Wayland residents to this day.
John C. Bryant died on July 19th, 2005, just 63 days after the quiet death of his beloved wife of 55 years, Lorraine. He literally died of a broken heart, suffering from an acute myocardial infarction while at home. John was 80 years old.
John C. Bryant was the type of person that everyone strives to be. As described by his daughter Cynthia, he was a very down to earth, practical, generous, and loving man. He gave a lot to the community and was proud of the fact that he was one of the few remaining “old town townies of Cochituate”. His daughter shares, “He was very proud to serve his country during World War II with the United States Army Air Corps. He, like many young men who graduated or left school early, felt a responsibility to defend their country and did so proudly, honorably and he felt it was his duty to enlist at that time. He never really shared very much about what occurred during his service time or his particular feelings for the war. For as long as he was able, he would wear his uniform and march with other Veterans during our local Memorial Day parade each year.” He loved to write, and despite all of his achievements, he was a man who didn’t think he was any more spectacular than anyone else. He was a humble individual who was fair, honest, reserved, and always looked out for the interests of the “little fellows” of Cochituate. His daughter noted that “he was a homebody, a townie, and he was very proud of where he lived and the community that he was a part of. He always felt that you must give back, so he did that, and he did it in a very quiet manner. Because that’s just who he was.”
Through all of this hard work, Lorraine supported John. She worked nights while he worked days and they worked it all out without their children ever knowing about it. In the end, John graduated first in his class with a 3.98 GPA, having taken chemistry, biology, microbiology, and psychology courses, among others. The John C. Bryant Funeral Home was founded in 1968, and it will be celebrating its 51st anniversary this June.
In his later life, John was a dedicated public servant to Wayland. He was the Wayland Park and Recreation commissioner where he established baseball and soccer fields for the town; was an advocate for the cemeteries in Wayland; was an active member of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association, the National Funeral Directors Association, the Dudley Pond Association, Sudbury Valley Trustees, Wayland Historical Society, the Cochituate Preservation Association, and Wayland Business Association, where he was one of the founders; was a lifelong member of the Community United Methodist Church where he served for more than 30 years as an usher and on many of the church committees; was a member of VFW Post 6260 of Wayland; and was a member of the American Legion Lafayette Post 57 of Old Orchard Beach, Maine and the Meridian Lodge AF & AM of Natick; served the town of Wayland as an Allen Fund Trustee (1972-2005), Historic District Commission (1974-1998), McManus Planning Committee (1985 - 1986), agent for the Board of Health (1988-2005), Park and Recreation Commission (1979-1990), and the Historic Commission (1979-1990); and was the assistant to the chairman of the Veterans of Foreign Wars association. John enjoyed his summers on Grand Beach at Old Orchard with his wife, three children, and many grandchildren, many of whom are still Wayland residents to this day.
John C. Bryant died on July 19th, 2005, just 63 days after the quiet death of his beloved wife of 55 years, Lorraine. He literally died of a broken heart, suffering from an acute myocardial infarction while at home. John was 80 years old.
John C. Bryant was the type of person that everyone strives to be. As described by his daughter Cynthia, he was a very down to earth, practical, generous, and loving man. He gave a lot to the community and was proud of the fact that he was one of the few remaining “old town townies of Cochituate”. His daughter shares, “He was very proud to serve his country during World War II with the United States Army Air Corps. He, like many young men who graduated or left school early, felt a responsibility to defend their country and did so proudly, honorably and he felt it was his duty to enlist at that time. He never really shared very much about what occurred during his service time or his particular feelings for the war. For as long as he was able, he would wear his uniform and march with other Veterans during our local Memorial Day parade each year.” He loved to write, and despite all of his achievements, he was a man who didn’t think he was any more spectacular than anyone else. He was a humble individual who was fair, honest, reserved, and always looked out for the interests of the “little fellows” of Cochituate. His daughter noted that “he was a homebody, a townie, and he was very proud of where he lived and the community that he was a part of. He always felt that you must give back, so he did that, and he did it in a very quiet manner. Because that’s just who he was.”