Obituary of Harold Stever Bryan

BRYAN, Harold Stever 96, died peacefully on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, at Casa de la Luz Hospice in Tucson AZ. He was born July 26, 1920, in Bedminster, PA, the sixth of Amos and Anna Bryan's eight children. His early education began on the family's dairy farm where he helped milk the cows before walking to a one-room country schoolhouse. After graduating from Sell-Perk High School, he moved to East Lansing MI to study veterinary medicine at Michigan State University. While earning his DVM degree, he was a captain in the Army Veterinary Reserve Corps and met his future wife, Margaret K. Nelson. They were married in 1945 and together raised three daughters, Meg Files (Jim) of Tucson AZ, Susan Reimer (Ronald) of Silverdale WA and Sally Cullen (Chad) of El Dorado Hills CA, and later welcomed into their family two nieces, Marjorie Pratt (Neal) of College Station TX and Nelda Campbell (Robert) of Salem NH. Harold's professional life began in Urbana Il where he received his Ph.D. in bacteriology in 1953 and stayed to serve on the faculty for several years. In 1956, he accepted a position as head of veterinary research at the Upjohn Co and moved his family to Kalamazoo MI. One of his proudest accomplishments was helping to develop Depo-Provera, an injectable form of birth control initially used in animals. After leaving the Upjohn Co in 1966, he spent several years in India and Indonesia on assignments with USAID through the University of Illinois and enjoyed traveling the world with his beloved Margaret. Between foreign assignments, he continued to teach at the university and served as assistant dean of admissions for several years. When an opportunity arose to become the first dean of a new veterinary school in Dominica, West Indies (Ross University), he embraced the challenge and spent two years getting the program up and running. Harold retired in 1983 and became a snowbird to Sun City AZ, before eventually making that his permanent home. In 1989 he married Marjorie Link and shared the next 16 years with her in Sun City before she passed away. Harold was extremely proud of his Pennsylvania Dutch upbringing, farming background, and large extended family. Sports were an important part of his life and he was an avid fan of all Illini teams and his beloved Arizona Cardinals and Diamondbacks. Harold was an accomplished bowler well into his 80s and made going to the gym a regular part of his life. In his latter years, he enjoyed reading, tending his flowers, and chatting with everyone who walked through his doors. Harold is survived by his sister, Marian Mathur of Rockville MD, his three daughters, five grandchildren, (Steve, Jared, Jessica, Chris, Ryan) and six more who called him Grandpa, and eleven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be directed to Harold's favorite charity, Heifer International . A Memorial is scheduled for Saturday, January 21, 2017, at Mt. Hope Mausoleum in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Arrangements by ADAIR FUNERAL HOME, Avalon Chapel.