Marie Bryant Mays

Marie Bryant Mays, 90, of Hollins, Alabama passed away on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at Coosa Valley Healthcare Center Nursing Home after a brief battle with cancer. Mrs. Mays was born in Hollins, Alabama on June 18, 1933. She was preceded in death by her parents William C. Bryant, Sr. and Lola Clinkscales Bryant; sisters Ruby Bryant Cleveland and Martha Jane Bryant; brother William C. “Bill” Bryant, Jr.; husband, David Mays. She is survived by her son, Rick Cleveland (Tracy) of Spanish Fort, Alabama; daughter, Jan Francisco (Mel) of Hartsville, South Carolina; sister, Catherine Muse of Hollins, Alabama; her grandchildren, Page McKinney (Jason), Clay Cleveland (Brooke), Cody Howard (Ashley) and Caitlin Cleveland; 7 great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Mays graduated from B. B. Comer High School, attended business college in Sylacauga, and nursing school at N.F. Nunnelly State Technical College in Childersburg. She retired as an administrative assistant from the Rheumatology Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While living in Birmingham, Mrs. Mays was a member of Stockham-Wesley Methodist Church in Birmingham where she sang in the choir and served as an alternate Sunday School teacher. After returning to Hollins, Mrs. Mays joined Marble City Baptist Church. She loved her church family where she taught Sunday School, served in the library, and led the bereavement culinary team throughout the years. She performed a marvelously hilarious role of a nursing home patient in a church musical and enjoyed it immensely. Mrs. Mays loved to fish for farm-raised catfish, brim and bass in her pond and had an unending love for the pets in her life. She enjoyed writing poetry and published a collection of poems “For Thine Is the Glory.” Mrs. Mays was an avid, life-long fan of University of Alabama football.

Graveside services will be held at 3:00 P.M., Friday, May 17, 2024, at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery with Bro. Mac McCaleb officiating. Pallbearers will be nephews Lee Cleveland, Gary Bryant, Greg Hartley, great-nephews Wesley Mewbourne, Kevin Hartley, and Eric Hartley.

Memorials may be made to the Sylacauga Healthcare Center Nursing Home Transitional Care Unit, Marble City Baptist Church, or the Sylacauga Animal Shelter. The family would like to extend their deepest appreciation to the staff of Sylacauga Healthcare Center Nursing Home Transitional Care Unit, the staff of Coosa Valley Hospice and Mrs. Mays’ niece, Kim Hartley, for her love and devotion to her aunt.

Radney-Smith Funeral Home in Sylacauga, Alabama will direct the service.