James David Bryant

After a brief stint at Henderson State, I went into the Management program with Fred's at Stuttgart. I earned my first store (Calhoun City, Ms) in 1981 and became their youngest Manager in the Company. I spent four years there and then transfered to a bigger store in Little Rock. After a year there, I noticed this cute girl that worked at the Jewelry Store next to us, and I asked her out. The rest is history, as we have been married for 25 years now.

I left Freds in 1988 to be a Salesman for Keebler, and after two great years, I was promoted to District Manager over the State of Arkansas. The Company has changed many times over the years, and was recently bought out by Kelloggs. But even though the Company name is different, the job is much the same. I enjoy traveling much of the state, spending my time in Walmarts, Krogers, Brookshires and Targets. The people part of my job is what I enjoy the most.

Becky and I have four kids, and we live in Cabot. The kids are now all out of High School. Laura, my oldest daughter has one year left of College. Ashley, is now a Junor in College, and the twins (Joe and Powell) will start College this fall. They both have excelled in Football, Track and Baseball over the years, and now they will focus just on Baseball.

I still play my Trombone from time to time (Family Events and Church), and I have one daughter (Ashley) that also plays. If you ever go to a UALR basketball game, she is the short blonde, and very cute I might add.

So in a nut shell, that is what has gone on for me over the past 30 years. Becky and I are now looking forward to what the next chapter of this amzing book will bring.

Being a transplant from DeWitt, I did not come up thru Kindergarten or Elementary School in Stuttgart. So when we moved to Stuttgart, I spent most of my time and developed most of my friends in the Band. Hence, most every great memory comes from my time coming up thru the Band program. There were a lot of great memories, but the best of them came from the many trips we took. From the Washington DC trip, to the Texarkana trip, or the wild bus trips to football games we took, they all provided so many great memories. So many friendships or people that made an impact on me were in the Band. To this day, my favorite teacher was Mr. Hickman. If you ever watched Mr. Hollands Opus, then you have a very good idea of what Mr. Hickman was like.