Robert Erwin "Doc" Bryant

Robert Erwin "Doc" Bryant, 80, of Tiptonville, died Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002, at Methodist Healthcare-Dyersburg Hospital.

He retired from his optometry profession in 1993 after 50 years of practice in Tiptonville. Before beginning his practice, he served in the U.S. Army after being drafted in 1943. He served his country as an ambulance driver, engineer and foot soldier. He began his European tour of duty in 1945 and remained there to the end of World War II.

He was a graduate of Tiptonville High School and the Southern College of Optometry at Memphis. He was the past president of the West Tennessee Optometric Association and a long-time member of the Tennessee Optometric Association, the American Optometric Association and the Tennessee Optometric Academy.

He was also past president of the Tiptonville Kiwanis Club and a member of West Plains Primitive Baptist Church in Milan.

He was born June 16, 1922, in Milan to the late B.D. and Eulah Cunningham Bryant, who moved the family to Tiptonville in 1927.

Services are at 11 a.m. Monday at Tiptonville First United Methodist Church with Bro. Ralph Gunter and Bro. T.L. Webb officiating. Burial will be in Tiptonville City Cemetery in Tiptonville. J.W. Curry and Son Funeral Home in Tiptonville is in charge of arrangements.