Mrs. Willie Mae (Bryant) Goodman

Mrs. Willie Mae (Bryant) Goodman was born May 30th, 1937 in Engelhard, NC, the seventh child of twelve to parents Minnie Lee and Early David Bryant. As a child she, sold eggs to pay for piano lessons that she started at 5 years old. She received her early education in Hyde County before attending Davis High School. As a teen in the 1950’s she worked in a cleaners as a seamstress and played for various churches in Hyde county. She started a group of young children singing in Washington, NC on the radio (WRRF) every Sunday. Upon her graduation from high school in 1955, she briefly moved to California with her eldest sister, Priscilla for a few years before returning to the NC area and having her first child, Jerome in 1957.

In 1958, she moved to NYC with her eldest brother, Milbert where she attended Shiloh Church of Christ in Harlem. She trained to become a data punch operator and then after an unfortunate “hair incident”, she decided to pursue her beauty culture license. While singing and recording with the Voices of Shiloh, she met the love of her life, John David Goodman of Fargo, GA. They married in 1962 and moved to the Bronx, continuing to record and sing with the Voices. From their union, they had four children, Lovetta, John II, Julius and Justin. She remained a home maker raising and training her children into accomplished singers and musicians. In her musical service to various churches, she trained many singers but her children were her pride. For over 20 years, she served faithfully as musician at Faithful Church of Christ. There she trained and mentored various choirs in the church, often introducing original material as an accomplished songwriter. While she was a stay-at-home mom, Willie Mae always had a “hustle”. While raising her children and singing in church, she was singing for funerals and training choirs, became a successful salesperson selling such commodities as Avon, pots and Tupperware while also doing hair, sewing and actively serving in her children’s PTA. Those hands STAYED busy!

In 2006, while playing for Hood Memorial AME Church in Harlem, she and her husband were involved in a near-fatal car accident while on their way to choir rehearsal one Saturday morning. She suffered a broken collarbone and ribs, a punctured lung, cracked pelvis and a major concussion requiring her to be cut from the mangled car. She was rushed to ICU and, with the help and constant care of her devoted husband, eventually learned to walk again. After the sudden passing of her son Julius in 2008, Willie Mae and Johnny moved back to her hometown in Engelhard, NC to oversee the care of her youngest sister Alice Ardell, a resident in a local nursing home. You could always find her playing and singing with her husband on any given weekend as they ministered to the other nursing home residents. Soon after her sister’s passing, her brother Leon also became ill and she remained in Engelhard. Even being back in her home town, she served in her musical capacity, once again singing and playing for local churches, funerals and functions.

She slowly began showing signs of dementia prior to 2014, when her daughter Lovetta suffered a massive debilitating stroke. Though she cared deeply for her daughter’s health, she began needing help herself as she her own mental health began to deteriorate. Her loving husband immediately assumed the role of her full-time caretaker and though she suffered from this debilitating condition, she always remained pleasant and amenable, always complying with her husband’s wishes. After surviving COVID and a minor stroke in February of 2021, she continued to live in Engelhard,NC.

On the morning of Sunday, November 17, she became unresponsive after a seizure, requiring her husband and son John II to rush her to the local EMS, charging them to transport her to Vidant ECU Hospital in Greenville, NC. Because of the distance, she was ultimately transported by helicopter (MediVac) and upon arrival was diagnosed with a massive stroke to the right side of her brain.

On the afternoon of Thursday, November 21, after being transferred to hospital hospice, she reached the end of her journey and was called home to the Lord, quietly slipping away just as her husband and son John II were at her side.

Preceding her in death were parents Minnie Lee and Early David, siblings Julian, Milbert, Priscilla, Naomi, Robert, John Early, Timothy, Alice Ardell, Leon, Melvin and Carrie, son Julius, granddaughter Tammy and grandson Jeron. She leaves to mourn her loving and devoted husband John Sr, daughter Lovetta, sons Jerome, John II and Justin, brother Jerrel, daughters in-love Aneida and Colette, grandchildren Catisha, Courtney, Shenequa, Kenton, Kianna, Madison, Mackensie, and William, great grandchildren, Zedekiah, Anyre, Culeeah, Ni’yel, Yaniah and Ariene, sister in-love Addie Brent, brother in-love Simon Goodman, nieces Joann McCullough, P. Renee Credle and Dianne Woods, and a host of other nieces, nephews, cousins, godchildren and friends.

Her life's devotion, service to God and mankind will be celebrated 1:00 PM Saturday, November 30, 2024, at Mt. Pilgrim Church of Christ Disciples of Christ. 

Burial will follow in the Ada Brown Cemetery, Engelhard, NC. 

The family will assemble at the residence in preparation for the funeral procession. 

All condolences to the Bryant-Goodman Family may be directed to peoplesfuneralest.com or our fax number: 252-940-6889. Also to our email address at peoplesfh219@gmail.com

We ask that you join us in remembering the Bryant-Goodman Family in both thoughts and prayers during this sorrowful time. 

Arrangements are entrusted to People's Funeral Establishment, Washington NC.

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