Mary Ann Bryant

Born on April 10th, 1951 in Berkeley, California, and entered into rest on October 20th, 2015 in Stanford, California at the age of 64. Mary Ann grew up in San Lorenzo, where she first met her husband-to-be, Jeff at Arroyo High School. Mary Ann was always interested in sports, and taught swimming at the local pools in the summer. She also was voted most athletic in High School. She was accepted to the University of California - Berkeley, where she majored in Physical Education, and also got a teaching credential. After college Mary Ann taught PE for five years in Union City, then had two kids, Jeannette and Erik. After the kids were established in school, she started substitute teaching at the kids Elementary School. Mary Ann joined Beta Sigma Phi International sorority in Nov. 1987 was a member of Epsilon Phi Master of Fremont. When son Erik reached his senior year of high school, there was no tennis coach, and Irvington High School was not going to be able to play tennis that year. So, Mary Ann stepped up and said "I will coach", and over the next 12 years she and Erik built the team into the point where they won the League Championship. Plus her teams had some of the best GPA's for all sports. While her kids were going to school the family camped at Burney Falls State Park, and Lair of the Bear Family Camp. There are now 4 generations of her family that have attended the Lair. In retirement Mary Ann wanted to travel. So she and Jeff started travel to Hawaii. They both went on a big tour to China, where they saw the Great Wall, and Terra Cotta Warriors, and more importantly Eric and Marina's Chinese wedding ceremony and feast. She had traveled to Europe several times, including for five weeks in 1992 to the Summer Olympics. She also wanted to do a bike ride, and did the Chico Metric Century, some 65 miles two years ago. However, about this time, she started to become out of breath, and in a few months found out she had Aplastic Anemia. Two ATG treatments later, it still wasn't cured. So, she sought out a Bone Marrow Transplant. She ended up with seven perfect matches, an unusually high number when the average person has just 50% chance of a match. A brave young Polish medical student was the best match, and he offered his match. So a transplant was done and seemed to be working. However, Mary Ann caught a fungus in her lung, and although she and anti-fungal drugs shrunk the fungus, so many other complications related to the problem got in the way from her Bone Marrow Transplant recovery. But most of all, she wanted to spend time with her cherished grandkids: Patrick, Alice and Marcus. She just loved them so much, reading to them, talking to them, and teaching them. One of her favorite things to do was to swim in her swimming pool with them, she was already teaching them to swim and to enjoy the water! Mary Ann is survived by her husband Jeff, daughter Jeannette (James), son Erik (Marina), and three grandchildren: Patrick, Alice, and Marcus. She is also survived by her sister Eileen (Ken) and brother Rob (Beth). A Celebration of Life will be held for Mary Ann on Sunday, November 1st, 3pm at Fremont Memorial Chapel, 3723 Peralta Blvd., Fremont, CA 94536. If you can, wear blue and gold for Cal, or red, Mary Ann's favorite color. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Mary Ann's favorite charity, Heifer International. https://fundraise.heifer.org/MaryAnnBryant

Mary Ann Bryant

April 10, 1951 - October 20, 2015