Genita Welch Bryant

November 12, 2014

Genita Welch Bryant, 100 years and eight months, of Bainbridge, Ga. and Lakeland, Fla., passed away Wednesday, November 12, 2014 at Memorial Manor.

The funeral service was held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 16, 2014 at Ivey Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. James Scarborough officiating.  Interment will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at Lakeland Memorial Gardens in Lakeland.

The family will received friends from 1 to 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 16, 2014 at Ivey Funeral Home prior to the funeral service.  Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.iveyfuneral.com.

Mrs. Bryant was born March 5, 1914 in Wauchula, Fla., the daughter of the late Frances Clarence Welch and Mattie Dansby Welch. She worked for many years as a citrus sectionizer in Lakeland, and was Pentecostal by faith.  Her family will remember how Genita loved to cook and will miss her cakes. She also enjoyed working with her flowers, shopping, sewing, and activities at church.

Survivors include her children, Doris Rowland Wimberly Taylor and her husband, Dan, of Bainbridge, Robert Charles Rowland and his wife, Faye, of Lakeland, Fla., and Jimmy Bryant of Bainbridge; her sister, Veda Summerall and her husband, Paul, of Plant City, Fla.; her grandchildren, Mike Rowland and his wife, Barbara, of Lakeland, Lisa Ponder and her husband, Darren, of Bainbridge, Diane Szymanski and her husband, Ray, of Lakeland, Carla A. Wimberly of Bainbridge and Hali Bryant of Bainbridge; her great-grandchildren, Tiffanie Ann Gibson and her husband, Jared, of Moultrie, Ga., Amber Nicole Owens, and her fiancé Earl Brown, Jr. of Bainbridge, Colby Ray Ponder of Bainbridge, Ashley Szymanski of Lakeland, Sabrina Brooke Ponder of Bainbridge, Sierra Rowland of Lakeland, Haley Rowland of Lakeland, and Kayla Szymanski of Lakeland; her great-great- grandchildren, Jayden Diane Brown, Riley Earl Brown, Eli Cooper Gibson, and Mallory Sapphire Ponder; and her longtime feline companion, Bobbie.  She was preceded in death by her granddaughter, Pam Diane Wimberly.