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O'Bryant named grand marshal
Each year a citizen is chosen by the Chamber of Commerce from nominations received from the community. The honoree is chosen for his or her service to the community and standing as a good citizen. As typical of the honoree, O'Bryant is modest. "I don't know what I've done," he said. "I don't know why I'd be nominated." O'Bryant moved to Thomasville in 1971 after marrying a Clarke County girl, Juanita O'Bryant in 1960. While not sure about whether he would live in Thomasville, O'Bryant knew he wanted to live in Clarke County after his first visit. "It was nice, clean," he said. Those early years were difficult for the O'Bryants, money was short and they had three hungry children to feed. "What we had was whatever people would donate," he said. "Juanita's uncle said we wouldn't last six months here." O'Bryant was working for the previous owner of the funeral home when the man died suddenly. With no credit, O'Bryant bought the business from the man's family with the family financing the deal. "In the lean times, we didn't pay ourselves," he said. But they got through "by the grace of God." But those struggles, he said, only helped them. "Struggle is part of the maturing process in life," he said. "Someone who has never struggled can't empathize with his fellow man." And empathize he has. While you can hear about his generosity and kindness, O'Bryant simply won't talk about it, hewing to a philosophy his father taught him while growing up in Tuscaloosa. "My father believed that if you gave someone something, no should know about it, and you shouldn't expect something out of it, because you gave it," he said. His experiences in his line of work have only strengthened that ethic. "You see people who are absolutely hurting, some who can't even afford to bury a family member," he said. "You never treat them any differently than anyone else. He tells a story of a young mother whose son ran behind her car while she was backing out and was killed. "I saw grief, true grief; you never forget that. I made up my mind to try to understand." In his years, he's seen Thomasville grow and grow from a time when one Christmas decoration hung over each end of Hwy. 43 to the bustling town it is today. He came to a small town possessed with the gentle spirit of "Mayberry" but he's also seen that spirit dim some over the decades.
Still, O'Bryant declares Thomasville Alabama's bestkept secret, and it's because of its people, he says. Some might declare Jimmy O'Bryant Sr. one of Thomasville's best-kept secrets.
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