Friday's Photo: Francis Gilbert "Bitts" Bryan

Francis Gilbert Bryan
1919 - 1992
Photo from the files of Marguerite Cook Clark. 

Francis Gilbert Bryan known as "Bitts" was the son of Albert Brown Bryan and Ina Mae Cook. Bitts and I are both descendants of Reddick Bryan and Elizabeth Span Regan and would be third-cousins. Bitts grew up in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. Born on April 29, 1919,  he was the second of three boys. I've written about his brothers, James Rupert Bryan and Albert Cook Bryan in previous posts.

View a larger clipping including photos
of the students mentioned at
Newspapers.com

I relied heavily on Newspapers.com to find more about Bitts. Francis G. Bryan was valedictorian of his Ringgold High School class in 1935. He attended what is now Northwestern State University and La Salle Extension University of Law. Bitts was a teacher, coach, and assistant principal in Bienville Parish. He was a very active member of the Republican Party in both Texas and New Mexico. 

Bitts was in the United States Army during World War II and after the war, worked as a geophysicist in several states.  He held membership in the Denver Geophysical Society (DGS), a chapter of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).  

In 1962, Bitts married Elizabeth C. Hille in Denver, Colorado. They had two children. Francis Gilbert Bryan was retired and made his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the time of his death in 1992. He is buried in Providence Cemetery in Ringgold with his parents, two brothers, and numerous Bryan and Cook family members. 

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Diana

© 2020

Sources

Family photographs and documents from the collection of Marguerite Cook Clark. Accessed April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission.