Funeral services were held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Grenada First Methodist Church for William Bryant McRee Sr., 87, of Grenada, who died on Monday, Dec. 16. Burial followed in the McRee family plot in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Grenada. A reception to celebrate Bryant’s life was held from 1 p.m. until service time at the church.
Bryant was born on Oct. 28, 1937, in Eupora, the son of the late Rudolph and the late Laurie McRee. He was a very active and invested member of Grenada First Methodist Church where you could hear his bass voice in the choir for more than 40 years. He served in many capacities for the church including, teaching Sunday school and chairing probably every committee at one time or another over the years. He loved the Lord and his church.
Bryant was also civic minded and involved in the Grenada community. He was a long-standing member and a previous past president of the Rotary Club of Grenada. In 2001, he was crowned King of the Grenada Junior Auxiliary’s Charity Ball. Bryant also served on the Board of Grenada Lake Medical Center for several years.
Bryant moved his family to Grenada in 1961 to join his brother, Henry McRee, as a partner in McRee Feed Mill, Inc. Their business grew in Mississippi’s agricultural community to become McRee’s Southern Farm Eggs, a major supplier of fresh eggs, and a household name for more than 30 years in north Mississippi and into Memphis, Tenn.
His wife Ruth, whom he was married to for 64 years; his brothers, Henry McRee and Rudolph McRee, and his sister, Ruthie McDearman, preceded Bryant in death.
Bryant will be lovingly remembered by all that knew him and by his immediate family of four sons, Bill McRee and his wife, Vicky, of Grenada, Tommy McRee of Grenada, Bobby McRee and his wife, Melba, of Hernando, and Jody McRee and his wife, Tracie, of Hernando; seven grandchildren, Elizabeth Barlow and her husband, Hunter, of Madison, Emily Webb and her husband, Daniel, of Jackson, Jessica Edwards and her husband, Shea, of Santa Barbara, Calif., Lewis McRee of Hernando, Ana Wren McRee of Hernando, Justin McRee of Hernando and Corbin McRee of Hernando and seven great grandchildren, Dorothy Kate, Ellis Barlow, Joe Barlow, William Webb, Henry Webb, Jack Edwards and Luke Edwards.
Steve Clark, Hunter Barlow, Daniel Webb, Justin McRee, Lewis McRee and Corbin McRee honored Bryant by serving as pallbearers and carried him to rest in Woodlawn Memorial Park.
Online condolences can be expressed to the family at www.mckibbenandguinn.com
McKibben and Guinn Funeral Service in Grenada was in charge of arrangements.
