I don't remember much about my great-grandmother, but I do remember her. She was 85 when I was born. I just remember a very short skinny woman who my mom called "Granny." She lived in Illinois with Mom's aunts and uncle. She mostly stayed with Aunt Ida. I can still picture her house and wanting to go in and visit with Granny.

Rutha Belle (spoken as Ruthie Belle) Brockman was the daughter of John L. and Catharine (Blair) Brockman. She married John Austin Bryant on January 25, 1888. They had 13 children, the first stillborn. The others were: Pearl, Viola Mae (known as Mae), Ida, Iva, Rosa (known as Rose), Virgil, Welby, Ocil, Vona Nell, Lucian, Ola and Tressie Dortha (known as Dorothy).

Her obituary from the October 13, 1963 Champaign News-Gazette:

Mahomet - Mrs. Ruthie Belle Bryant, 92, Mahomet, died at 10:35 a.m. Saturday (October 12, 1963) at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Ida Deener, Mahomet. The body was taken to Lamb Funeral Home in Gibson City where friends may call after 7 p.m. Sunday. The body will be taken to Stotts-Phelps Funeral Home in Columbia, Kentucky. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Free Union Baptist Church, Sano, Kentucky. Burial will be in the Bryant Family Cemetery, Sano, Kentucky. Mrs. Bryant was born August 20, 1871 in Adair County, Kentucky, daughter of John and Catherine Blair Brockman. She married John A. Bryant on January 2, 1887 at the home in Adair County, Kentucky. He preceded her in death in 1947. They lived on a farm in Russell County, Kentucky, until his death. For the past three years she had lived at the home of Mrs. Ida Deener and at the home of Mrs. Rose Scales, both of Mahomet. Surviving are two other daughters, Mrs. May Bryant, Sano, Kentucky, Mrs. Dorothy Whitt, Cincinnati, Ohio; five sons, Ivan [should be Iva] Bryant, Champaign, Virgil, Harrisville, Michigan, Ocie [should be Ocil], Cincinnati, Ohio, Lucian, Edensburg [should be Edinburgh], Indiana, and Ola, Sano, Kentucky; 44 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by three daughters [stillborn or died in infancy, between 1888 and 1900; Vona Nell Bryant, 1909; and Pearl Bryant Hill, 1957] and a son [Welby Bryant, 1923]. She was a member of the Free Union Baptist Church, Sano, Kentucky.

I'd like to thank my cousin, indcub, who originally posted this memorial. He did an awesome job photographing so many tombstones in Adair County, Kentucky. It was from him that I learned about findagrave. Thanks!

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Many thanks to D. Meserole for sponsoring my great-grandmother's memorial.