Helen Louise Bennett Bryan

Born June 17, 1939, found her Magnificent Moment June 4, 2017. One of God''s greatest sparrows has winged her way to Heaven. She will see our son David Rosser Bryan. He was one of her purposes for life. She will also see her brother Wiley Shelby Bennett, a man who held open the doors to Heaven for every one he ever met in life. It is not about preaching a sermon or building a church, it is about saving souls. She will find her brother Wiley standing next to St. Peter. She will also see her brothers, Billy Joe Bennett, and Terry Wayne Bennett, both lost as infants. Brothers she never knew, yet she found every bit of information about them that could be found. This was how she kept them alive in her heart. She will find these two brothers in the arms of her mother and father, Rubye May Bryant Bennett and Euel Shelby Bennett. She will once again see her paternal grandparents, Virgil Lee Bennett and Ada Bennett Bennett, and her maternal grandparents, Elza Carol Bryant and Emoline Morgan Bryant. Elza gave Helen a favorite pet name. He always called her Cricket. The sounds from Heaven have changed.

Helen has left upon this earth a fourth brother, Dalton Lamar Bennett. What is this kinship and love that happens between an older sister and a younger brother? She has left our daughter, LeAnne Carol Bryan. LeAnne is Helen''s very first purpose for life on earth. She has left our grandson, Conner Rosser Bryan, a third purpose and her vision of what the future might be. She has left two other grandsons, Luke David Vaughn and Clay Ellon Vaughn. They are gifts that fell into her heart.

She has also left her husband of 59 years, Bobby Rosser Bryan. Our marriage union has had some things going on that no one has really seen. They are obvious, but no one has known what they meant. We have held hands in almost every place we have gone. These were not idol hands. They spoke words by three squeezes. The first squeeze meant "I", the second "Love", and the third, "You". We have used these words in every part of our marriage. We have used them when there was friction, pain, sorrow, tragedy, joy, happiness, and the birth of purposes. These three words are the glue that held us together for over sixty years. These three words formed a bond that no power on earth was able to break. We had these things. We were like many couples of today. I had a pet name for Helen that I never used in public. I only used it in our private moments. There was a time when her Parkinson''s disease had not taken her away, but she knew what this horrible disease could do. She asked that I not call anyone else by her pet name. I assured her that "My Sweetness" was her name, and hers alone. No one else would have it. She would have that name forever and I would cut it in stone.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Friday at Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 2440 Whitten Rd., Memphis, TN 38133. Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday at Longview Heights Baptist Church, 4501 Goodman Rd., Olive Branch, MS 38654. Interment will follow at Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park, East. Memorials may be made to the Parkinson''s Foundation or St. Jude Children''s Research Hospital.

Forest Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park, East
901-382-1000