Jerry W. Bryant

Jerry Bryant passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on July 27 after a valiant fight against cancer.

Born in South San Francisco, he moved with his family to Pritchard, Alabama when he was young. Later the family relocated to Santa Cruz where Jerry spent his formative years fishing and getting into mischief with his childhood friend, Carol Raney.

After he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force where he trained to become a radio repair technician. During the Vietnam War, he was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas where he troubleshot and repaired airplane radios.

After the Air Force, he attended college and earned his degree in Electronics Engineering from San Jose State University. Soon after, he began a career as a civil servant for the U.S. Navy at their Fleet Missile Systems Analysis and Evaluation Group in Corona, California where he worked in missile research and development. It was there that he met his future wife Sandy and her daughter Sandra. They married two years later and spent the next 48 years together.

He later transferred to Oxnard where he continued in civil service providing telemetry for missile guidance systems, eventually rising to become the head of telemetry for the Vandenburg, San Nicholas Island, and Barking Sands (Hawaii) Naval bases, a position he held until he retired.

Jerry loved fishing, photography, sailing, and everything related to planes. But his biggest passion in life was his family.

He is survived by his wife Sandy (formerly Castro); daughter Sandra King (Joe); granddaughters Allison Dufresne (Aaron), Jesa Riley Bryant-Simental, and Jacqueline King; two great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents William and Catherine (Hurtt) Bryant; brothers Doyle Hall and Lloyd Hall; and sister Jean (Curtis) Bryant.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Jerry W. Bryant, please visit our floral store.