Family, friends and former colleagues of Florida A&M University’s former interim President Castell Vaughn Bryant gathered under a somber circumstance May 21 as they celebrated the education leader’s life.
While bidding Bryant a final farewell during a funeral service in the Lee Hall auditorium on FAMU’s campus, those who fondly knew her from an education standpoint and all other walks of life shared in gratitude the impact of her trailblazing leadership – including her daughter Kathi Vaughn-Malpress.
Vaugn-Malpress – who was raised by her grandparents during most of her childhood while Bryant was in college and pursued her career – explained that she had to share her mother with colleagues and friends in the higher education realm. At the same time, she understood the visionary’s calling.
“It was not until this last leg that I got to be able to spend the time with my mother that I always wanted,” Vaughn-Malpress told a crowd of about 150 attendees.
She was Bryant’s caregiver before the Jasper native and FAMU alumna died on May 2 at the age of 88 in Jacksonville due to undisclosed health issues. Among Bryant’s list of former roles in education, she was the first woman in FAMU history to take on the interim president role at the university.
“Did I become upset that she had given her better years to everybody else? Yeah,” Vaughn-Malpress said. “But she also explained to me so many things, and I understand that it was sacrificial living for both of us, as she said. I sacrificed her, and she sacrificed me, and you all were the winners. But in the ultimate, so am I – because she’s still my mama, and she’ll always be my mama. Nothing will change that.”
While Bryant’s career included being an elementary school teacher, working in various positions at FAMU and serving as president of three Miami-Dade College campuses, she came out of retirement to become interim president of FAMU from 2005 to 2007. She was also interim president of Florida Memorial University during two separate terms in 1989 and 2017.
“She dropped the ladder down for so many, including me,” current MDC President Madeline Pumariega – who is the first woman to serve as the college’s leader – said while sharing remarks at the funeral. “Castell made a difference. Castell changed lives. Castell made this world a better world.”
The quiet remembrance of Bryant during the service was mixed with powerful gospel tunes that resounded throughout the auditorium as attendees stood and lifted their hands while singing along.
Besides Pumariega, speakers included FAMU President Marva Johnson and Florida Memorial University president William McCormick. Former FAMU presidents Larry Robinson and Fred Gainous as well as the university’s former interim president Henry Lewis III attended the funeral.
Past and current officials who spoke included former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor − who is also a political science instructor at FAMU − and City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox, who read a Tallahassee resolution that was created in Bryant’s honor. Additional resolutions were established by FAMU, Florida Memorial University and Tallahassee’s Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.
Given Bryant’s impact on higher education, H. Leigh Toney – a former MDC colleague of Bryant’s – referred to the Thursday funeral service as “Castell’s final commencement.”
“It just occurred to me this morning that it’s graduation season,” Toney said, “and here we are gathered together to celebrate the life of Castell Bryant – perfect timing for someone who was both an academic, a lifelong learner and a strategist, which gives her transition just the right amount of pomp and circumstance.”
Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at tjean@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @tarahjean_.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU, family, colleagues celebrate the life of Castell Vaughn Bryant
Reporting by Tarah Jean, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
