Westside pastor leaves after 11 years

    When the Bryans first came to the area from Mississippi, they lived in Imperial and preached both here and in Holyoke, Colorado.
    Pastor Bill Bryan’s first service at the Westside Church of Christ in Imperial was on June 3, 2007.
    They moved to Imperial to be closer to wife Cheryl’s parents, Bruce and Nirene Kitt.
    Originally from Texas, Bryan has been all over the world since he left in 1975.
    Bryan met Cheryl while in San Diego for the U.S. Navy.
    “We don’t move often, we just move far,” Cheryl joked.
    After his four years with the Navy, Bryan went to a small seminary in Dallas, then he received his bachelor of arts degree in bible studies from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee.
    They spent 12 years as missionaries in South Africa, where three of their four children were born.
    The Bryans have also been in churches in Chicago and Mississippi.
    They’ve been married 48 years and have four grown children.
    Bryan had nothing but great things to say about Imperial.
    “People here are just great people,” he said.
    “It’s a bustling town during the day, but at 5 p.m. the sidewalks roll up.”
    Bryan also loves how safe Imperial is. His mother-in-law thought someone stole a lawn ornament of hers.
    “Nirene, we live in Imperial, Nebraska,” Bryan pointed out.
    “You could have taped a $100 bill to your front door and been gone for a month and it still would have been there,” he joked.
    He added, “And if it wasn’t, someone would have noticed you were home and brought it back.”
    The Bryans will be moving to Smerna, Tennessee, where their daughter Beth and her family live.
    While he doesn’t have a job lined up, Bryan doesn’t plan on retiring.
    “I’m particular about what I’m looking for,” he said.
    He would prefer to do staff work in a church, being involved with the education side, since he’s taught grief and bereavement classes in the past.
    “Imperial is a sweet little town,” Bryan said.
    The couple was busy packing up last week, and had planned to pull out of town Tuesday.