Memorials › William Jennings “Sonny” Bryan Jr.
William Jennings “Sonny” Bryan Jr.
24 Mar 1926 – 23 Dec 1989
| Birth | 24 Mar 1926 |
| Death | 23 Dec 1989 |
| Cemetery | Laurel Land Memorial Park Dallas , Dallas County , Texas , USA |
| Added by | Imagraver on 19 Feb 2017 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227489179 |
Bio
King of Texas barbecue, Sonny Bryan, dies at 63 Dallas Morning News, The (TX) - Sunday, December 24, 1989 Sonny Bryan may have filled the neighborhood with the smell of the barbecue that made him famous in Dallas, but few people ever complained. They loved to eat it as much as he loved to cook it. William Jennings "Sonny' Bryan Jr., who served his barbecue to a generation of barbecue lovers at Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, died at his home Saturday of cancer. He was 63. Services for Mr. Bryan will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Kessler Park United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Laurel Land Mausoleum. "He loved it. He loved to get up every morning and smell the meat and keep the pit burning and wear his paper hat,' said Joanne Chapman Bryan, his wife of 42 years. "It was almost like a game,' she said. "All he wanted was the sun to get up and go to this place. He loved it so.' Mrs. Bryan said her husband learned how to make barbecue more than 50 years ago working in his father's restaurant. William J. "Red' Bryan had opened the restaurant on Jefferson Boulevard in the 1930s and moved to a larger building down the street in 1947. His father before him, Elias Bryan, had opened the family's first barbecue stand, on Beckley Avenue, in 1910. Sonny started washing dishes in his father's restaurant "when he could stand on a s tool at 8 years old,' his wife said. Until February, Mr. Bryan had served his food in surroundings that did not quite live up to the quality of his food, Mrs. Bryan said. "It was a melting pot of all civilizations,' she said. "It's such a grubby little place, but it said so much about people being together -- all people, all races, all creeds who loved barbecue. "And he smelled up the neighborhood,' she said of the restaurant, near Dallas Love Field on Inwood Road. "All the way out to the airport, when the wind was in that direction, you could smell it. "We've had many funny comments from the airlines: "Um, I smell Sonny Bryan's barbecue.' ' Sonny Bryan's barbecue was famous all over the country, said Waltrina Stovall, a restaurant critic for The Dallas Morning News. Few chefs who visited Dallas missed a chance to sample his fare, she said. "They went to Routh Street, The Mansion and Sonny Bryan's,' Ms. Stovall said. Jim Mills, executive sous chef at The Mansion on Turtle Creek, said Mr. Bryan was one of the nicest men he ever met. "He was friendly to everyone who came in,' Mr. Mills said. "He was one of the old-time operators. A lot of guys with a big stand, you won't see them in there working it. But he did. His personal touch, his personality made it great.' Mr. Bryan was born in Dallas on March 24, 1926. He was a member of Kessler Park United Methodist Church, where he served on the administrative board. He was a 32nd-degree Mason and a Shriner. He was a graduate of Sunset High School and attended Southern Methodist University. He served in the Army Air Force during World War II. He was a member of the Dallas Restaurant Association, the Texas Restaurant Association and the Oak Cliff Lions Club. In October 1988, Mr. Bryan was diagnosed with cancer of the liver and stomach. So on Feb. 1, the King of Barbecue sold his restaurant to a group of investors. "I was going to go to the bitter end, but now's the time to get everything in order. I'm retiring,' Mr. Bryan said at the time. Mrs. Bryan said her husband never complained about his illness. "Never once did he say, "Why me?' ' she said. Cancer may have forced him to give up his business, but he refused to let it beat him until the end, she said. He loved to ride his eight bicycles. "Even after chemotherapy, he rode bicycles. Outside. Constantly. Sometimes 30, sometimes 15 (miles), depending on the weather and how he felt,' she said. "He used to say he felt he was too strong to die.' Mr. Bryan is survived by his wife; two sons, the Rev. William J. Bryan III and Dr. Burt C. Bryan, a dentist; his mother, Catharin W. Bryan; two sisters, Brenda Sims and Shirley Broaddus, both of Bryan; and four grandchildren.
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