Aubrey Byron Bland, 97, of Olive Branch, MS, passed away after a long illness on Sunday, May 3rd, surrounded by his loving family.
He leaves behind his daughter, Judy Loyd (Paul Reece), son, Donald Bland (Kim), four grandchildren – Tanya McFadden, Renee Diaz (Chris), Adam Bland (Crystal Cason) and Aubrey Bland, four great-grandchildren-Dylan and Nicole McFadden and Foster and Cross Diaz. He also leaves two siblings, Bill Bland and Lamoin Cain. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 66 years, Luna Marie Bland, his parents, Lucious Curtis and Florence Harrison Bland, seven siblings, Lila Modean Davis, Mildred “Snooks” Harwell, Zelda Kate Phillips, Knox Bland, Burnell “Hunk” Bland, Durell “Dude” Bland and Maryce “Sissy” Ales.
Whether you called him Aubrey, A.B., Bland, Byron, Pop, Dad or PawPaw, he was known as a very, very special man. He was born January 4, 1923 at home in Toccopola, MS in a home built by his father with 2 bedrooms, no electricity or running water for a family of 13. He and his family raised cotton, planted corn and other vegetables, raised hogs and cured their own bacon, cooled the milk from their cows in the stream running near the home, cut rough trees and used their saw-mill to prepare for transport on the Tallahatchie River, and hunted with their hound dogs.
Bland shared many stories of growing up in a small town with childhood experiences of playing “Kick the Can”, “Hide and Seek” but also making baseball bats out of limbs from a tree and balls from rubber tubing and string, swimming in creeks, and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Laughingly, he told his family that he would sleep on the back porch most of the time with some of his brothers and in winter he would wake up covered with a light-dusting of snow.
In the late 1930s, he would visit a “juke joint” to listen to Jimmie Rodgers and Pistol Packing Papa or “buck” dance to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) when their band came to Springhill, MS. To buck dance, he would nail steel plates on to his shoes to get just the right sound on the wooden floor.
When he was 15 years old, A.B. and his Mom went to Oxford, MS to sign him up for CCC Camp (Civilian Conservation Corps) where he worked restoring parks in different states. At 18, he volunteered for WWII but due to a foot injury from his childhood, he was prevented from enlisting. So, Byron started his work life at Firestone in Memphis building tires and briefly as a fireman at the Memphis Airport. In 1946, he joined the Memphis Area Transit Authority as a bus driver, badge #214, driving all over downtown and East Memphis. He retired in 1983 after 35 years.
Byron was well-known for his award-winning jitter-bug dancing and fell in love with his beloved wife, Marie, after asking her to dance. She gave him her number and the rest is history. His love and dedication to her showed in his care-giving in the final 20 years of her life. He loved people and always had a smile on his face. He was known for his kindness, joy, loving heart, jokes, hard work, loyalty to family, cooking skills, being the neighborhood dog whisperer, coin collecting, fishing—but never eating fish, and being an avid gardener who didn’t hesitate to share his bounty with others. If you had any kind of problem with your car, lawn mower or anything mechanical, he was there to help fix it. The family gathered every Sunday for his down-home cooking and fellowship. You always smiled and laughed when you were with him and felt better after a visit with PawPaw. His favorite saying as you were saying good-bye was “What’s the rush? Why don’t you sit and stay a while?” We all wish we could hear him ask that one more time.
Due to the coronavirus, a family graveside service with Pastor Bill Beavers from Getwell Church officiating is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10: 00 a.m. at Forest Hill South Cemetery on Holmes Road. A celebration of life will be determined at a later date. We wish to thank all his care-givers for their loving care of our father while he was home. Thank you to the staff at Culpepper Assisted Living who did an amazing job loving and caring for him in his final days.
In Lieu of flowers please make any memorial donations in his honor to Getwell Church in Southaven, MS.
Services
Private
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
10:00 AM
Forest Hill - South
2545 E. Holmes Road
Memphis, Tennessee 38118
He leaves behind his daughter, Judy Loyd (Paul Reece), son, Donald Bland (Kim), four grandchildren – Tanya McFadden, Renee Diaz (Chris), Adam Bland (Crystal Cason) and Aubrey Bland, four great-grandchildren-Dylan and Nicole McFadden and Foster and Cross Diaz. He also leaves two siblings, Bill Bland and Lamoin Cain. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 66 years, Luna Marie Bland, his parents, Lucious Curtis and Florence Harrison Bland, seven siblings, Lila Modean Davis, Mildred “Snooks” Harwell, Zelda Kate Phillips, Knox Bland, Burnell “Hunk” Bland, Durell “Dude” Bland and Maryce “Sissy” Ales.
Whether you called him Aubrey, A.B., Bland, Byron, Pop, Dad or PawPaw, he was known as a very, very special man. He was born January 4, 1923 at home in Toccopola, MS in a home built by his father with 2 bedrooms, no electricity or running water for a family of 13. He and his family raised cotton, planted corn and other vegetables, raised hogs and cured their own bacon, cooled the milk from their cows in the stream running near the home, cut rough trees and used their saw-mill to prepare for transport on the Tallahatchie River, and hunted with their hound dogs.
Bland shared many stories of growing up in a small town with childhood experiences of playing “Kick the Can”, “Hide and Seek” but also making baseball bats out of limbs from a tree and balls from rubber tubing and string, swimming in creeks, and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Laughingly, he told his family that he would sleep on the back porch most of the time with some of his brothers and in winter he would wake up covered with a light-dusting of snow.
In the late 1930s, he would visit a “juke joint” to listen to Jimmie Rodgers and Pistol Packing Papa or “buck” dance to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) when their band came to Springhill, MS. To buck dance, he would nail steel plates on to his shoes to get just the right sound on the wooden floor.
When he was 15 years old, A.B. and his Mom went to Oxford, MS to sign him up for CCC Camp (Civilian Conservation Corps) where he worked restoring parks in different states. At 18, he volunteered for WWII but due to a foot injury from his childhood, he was prevented from enlisting. So, Byron started his work life at Firestone in Memphis building tires and briefly as a fireman at the Memphis Airport. In 1946, he joined the Memphis Area Transit Authority as a bus driver, badge #214, driving all over downtown and East Memphis. He retired in 1983 after 35 years.
Byron was well-known for his award-winning jitter-bug dancing and fell in love with his beloved wife, Marie, after asking her to dance. She gave him her number and the rest is history. His love and dedication to her showed in his care-giving in the final 20 years of her life. He loved people and always had a smile on his face. He was known for his kindness, joy, loving heart, jokes, hard work, loyalty to family, cooking skills, being the neighborhood dog whisperer, coin collecting, fishing—but never eating fish, and being an avid gardener who didn’t hesitate to share his bounty with others. If you had any kind of problem with your car, lawn mower or anything mechanical, he was there to help fix it. The family gathered every Sunday for his down-home cooking and fellowship. You always smiled and laughed when you were with him and felt better after a visit with PawPaw. His favorite saying as you were saying good-bye was “What’s the rush? Why don’t you sit and stay a while?” We all wish we could hear him ask that one more time.
Due to the coronavirus, a family graveside service with Pastor Bill Beavers from Getwell Church officiating is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10: 00 a.m. at Forest Hill South Cemetery on Holmes Road. A celebration of life will be determined at a later date. We wish to thank all his care-givers for their loving care of our father while he was home. Thank you to the staff at Culpepper Assisted Living who did an amazing job loving and caring for him in his final days.
In Lieu of flowers please make any memorial donations in his honor to Getwell Church in Southaven, MS.
Services
Private
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
10:00 AM
Forest Hill - South
2545 E. Holmes Road
Memphis, Tennessee 38118
Aubrey Byron Bland, 97, of Olive Branch, MS, passed away after a long illness on Sunday, May 3rd, surrounded by his loving family.
He leaves behind his daughter, Judy Loyd (Paul Reece), son, Donald Bland (Kim), four grandchildren – Tanya McFadden, Renee Diaz (Chris), Adam Bland (Crystal Cason) and Aubrey Bland, four great-grandchildren-Dylan and Nicole McFadden and Foster and Cross Diaz. He also leaves two siblings, Bill Bland and Lamoin Cain. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 66 years, Luna Marie Bland, his parents, Lucious Curtis and Florence Harrison Bland, seven siblings, Lila Modean Davis, Mildred “Snooks” Harwell, Zelda Kate Phillips, Knox Bland, Burnell “Hunk” Bland, Durell “Dude” Bland and Maryce “Sissy” Ales.
Whether you called him Aubrey, A.B., Bland, Byron, Pop, Dad or PawPaw, he was known as a very, very special man. He was born January 4, 1923 at home in Toccopola, MS in a home built by his father with 2 bedrooms, no electricity or running water for a family of 13. He and his family raised cotton, planted corn and other vegetables, raised hogs and cured their own bacon, cooled the milk from their cows in the stream running near the home, cut rough trees and used their saw-mill to prepare for transport on the Tallahatchie River, and hunted with their hound dogs.
Bland shared many stories of growing up in a small town with childhood experiences of playing “Kick the Can”, “Hide and Seek” but also making baseball bats out of limbs from a tree and balls from rubber tubing and string, swimming in creeks, and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Laughingly, he told his family that he would sleep on the back porch most of the time with some of his brothers and in winter he would wake up covered with a light-dusting of snow.
In the late 1930s, he would visit a “juke joint” to listen to Jimmie Rodgers and Pistol Packing Papa or “buck” dance to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) when their band came to Springhill, MS. To buck dance, he would nail steel plates on to his shoes to get just the right sound on the wooden floor.
When he was 15 years old, A.B. and his Mom went to Oxford, MS to sign him up for CCC Camp (Civilian Conservation Corps) where he worked restoring parks in different states. At 18, he volunteered for WWII but due to a foot injury from his childhood, he was prevented from enlisting. So, Byron started his work life at Firestone in Memphis building tires and briefly as a fireman at the Memphis Airport. In 1946, he joined the Memphis Area Transit Authority as a bus driver, badge #214, driving all over downtown and East Memphis. He retired in 1983 after 35 years.
Byron was well-known for his award-winning jitter-bug dancing and fell in love with his beloved wife, Marie, after asking her to dance. She gave him her number and the rest is history. His love and dedication to her showed in his care-giving in the final 20 years of her life. He loved people and always had a smile on his face. He was known for his kindness, joy, loving heart, jokes, hard work, loyalty to family, cooking skills, being the neighborhood dog whisperer, coin collecting, fishing—but never eating fish, and being an avid gardener who didn’t hesitate to share his bounty with others. If you had any kind of problem with your car, lawn mower or anything mechanical, he was there to help fix it. The family gathered every Sunday for his down-home cooking and fellowship. You always smiled and laughed when you were with him and felt better after a visit with PawPaw. His favorite saying as you were saying good-bye was “What’s the rush? Why don’t you sit and stay a while?” We all wish we could hear him ask that one more time.
Due to the coronavirus, a family graveside service with Pastor Bill Beavers from Getwell Church officiating is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10: 00 a.m. at Forest Hill South Cemetery on Holmes Road. A celebration of life will be determined at a later date. We wish to thank all his care-givers for their loving care of our father while he was home. Thank you to the staff at Culpepper Assisted Living who did an amazing job loving and caring for him in his final days.
In Lieu of flowers please make any memorial donations in his honor to Getwell Church in Southaven, MS.
Services
Private
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
10:00 AM
Forest Hill - South
2545 E. Holmes Road
Memphis, Tennessee 38118
He leaves behind his daughter, Judy Loyd (Paul Reece), son, Donald Bland (Kim), four grandchildren – Tanya McFadden, Renee Diaz (Chris), Adam Bland (Crystal Cason) and Aubrey Bland, four great-grandchildren-Dylan and Nicole McFadden and Foster and Cross Diaz. He also leaves two siblings, Bill Bland and Lamoin Cain. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 66 years, Luna Marie Bland, his parents, Lucious Curtis and Florence Harrison Bland, seven siblings, Lila Modean Davis, Mildred “Snooks” Harwell, Zelda Kate Phillips, Knox Bland, Burnell “Hunk” Bland, Durell “Dude” Bland and Maryce “Sissy” Ales.
Whether you called him Aubrey, A.B., Bland, Byron, Pop, Dad or PawPaw, he was known as a very, very special man. He was born January 4, 1923 at home in Toccopola, MS in a home built by his father with 2 bedrooms, no electricity or running water for a family of 13. He and his family raised cotton, planted corn and other vegetables, raised hogs and cured their own bacon, cooled the milk from their cows in the stream running near the home, cut rough trees and used their saw-mill to prepare for transport on the Tallahatchie River, and hunted with their hound dogs.
Bland shared many stories of growing up in a small town with childhood experiences of playing “Kick the Can”, “Hide and Seek” but also making baseball bats out of limbs from a tree and balls from rubber tubing and string, swimming in creeks, and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Laughingly, he told his family that he would sleep on the back porch most of the time with some of his brothers and in winter he would wake up covered with a light-dusting of snow.
In the late 1930s, he would visit a “juke joint” to listen to Jimmie Rodgers and Pistol Packing Papa or “buck” dance to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) when their band came to Springhill, MS. To buck dance, he would nail steel plates on to his shoes to get just the right sound on the wooden floor.
When he was 15 years old, A.B. and his Mom went to Oxford, MS to sign him up for CCC Camp (Civilian Conservation Corps) where he worked restoring parks in different states. At 18, he volunteered for WWII but due to a foot injury from his childhood, he was prevented from enlisting. So, Byron started his work life at Firestone in Memphis building tires and briefly as a fireman at the Memphis Airport. In 1946, he joined the Memphis Area Transit Authority as a bus driver, badge #214, driving all over downtown and East Memphis. He retired in 1983 after 35 years.
Byron was well-known for his award-winning jitter-bug dancing and fell in love with his beloved wife, Marie, after asking her to dance. She gave him her number and the rest is history. His love and dedication to her showed in his care-giving in the final 20 years of her life. He loved people and always had a smile on his face. He was known for his kindness, joy, loving heart, jokes, hard work, loyalty to family, cooking skills, being the neighborhood dog whisperer, coin collecting, fishing—but never eating fish, and being an avid gardener who didn’t hesitate to share his bounty with others. If you had any kind of problem with your car, lawn mower or anything mechanical, he was there to help fix it. The family gathered every Sunday for his down-home cooking and fellowship. You always smiled and laughed when you were with him and felt better after a visit with PawPaw. His favorite saying as you were saying good-bye was “What’s the rush? Why don’t you sit and stay a while?” We all wish we could hear him ask that one more time.
Due to the coronavirus, a family graveside service with Pastor Bill Beavers from Getwell Church officiating is scheduled for Wednesday morning at 10: 00 a.m. at Forest Hill South Cemetery on Holmes Road. A celebration of life will be determined at a later date. We wish to thank all his care-givers for their loving care of our father while he was home. Thank you to the staff at Culpepper Assisted Living who did an amazing job loving and caring for him in his final days.
In Lieu of flowers please make any memorial donations in his honor to Getwell Church in Southaven, MS.
Services
Private
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
10:00 AM
Forest Hill - South
2545 E. Holmes Road
Memphis, Tennessee 38118
Family Members
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