Bryant, Arvil Walter

Funeral services for Arvil Walter Bryant, 26 year old Hockerville Oklahoma hard rock lead and zinc miner who drowned while swimming in Spring River Wednesday afternoon, will be conducted at the Assembly of God church at 2 p.m. Friday. The Rev. Gary Clogston will officiate. Bryant, who was employed at St. Louis Mining and Smelting Company's Ballard Mill near Baxter Springs Kansas, drowned about 1:45 p.m. in the "Devil's Holler" hole on Spring River. Efforts of four companions failed to revive him. The miner was pronounced dead on arrival at Picher hospital at Picher Oklahoma, where he was taken by his friends. According to Picher Police Chief Gene Crockett, Bryant and four companions, Ab Turner, about 60, and three teen-age boys, Bobbie Burns, John McCoy and Cuddy Davis, all of Hockerville Oklahoma, had gone swimming in the Devil's Promenade district early in the afternoon. Crockett quoted Turner as saying that the drowning victim and McCoy and Davis were swimming in about 12 feet of water and Turner and Burns were standing on the river bank when Bryant suddenly called out. "Ab, come help me!" The two boys who were swimming already had noted that Bryant had gone under water several times while they were swimming to his aid. McCoy and Davis reportedly held Bryant's head above water until Turner and Burns reached him in a row boat. Several minutes of artificial respiration on the river bank failed to revive Bryant and he was taken to the Picher Oklahoma hospital in a car by Turner and the three boys. Bryant is survived by his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Bryant, and three sons, Danny Eugene Bryant, Larry Kenneth Bryant and Earl Dean Bryant, all of the home in Hockerville; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jink Bryant of Hockerville; five brothers, Chester Bryant, Vivian Bryant and Hollie Bryant, all of Hoisington Kansas, Oscar Bryant of Compton Arkansas, and Ernest Bryant of Illinois, and a sister, Mrs. Goldie Wilhite of Larned Kansas

Obituary.