Anita Bryant Family Announces Her Death at 84, Grammy-Nominated Singer, ‘Save Our Children’ Activist
Anita Bryant, 84, a three-time Grammy-nominated singer and former Miss Oklahoma who later became known for leading the “Save Our Children” campaign against gay rights, died at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, on Dec. 16, 2024. Her family announced her death on Jan. 9, 2025, in an obituary in The Oklahoman.
Bryant was also a devout Christian, author and recipient of the USO Silver Medallion for Service, Veterans of Foreign Wars Leadership Gold Medallion and Al Jolson Gold Medallion. She displayed her passion for music and performance at an early age, starring in her own television show at age 12 and being crowned Miss Oklahoma at age 18. She made numerous television guest appearances and recorded musical hits that included “Till there Was You,” “Paper Roses” and “My Little Corner of the World” along with several albums of Christian music.
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For seven years, she toured with Bob Hope’s holiday United Service Organizations tours, with Hope dubbing her his “den mother” because of the way she took care of others. She sang at the White House for President Lyndon B. Johnson and at his 1973 graveside service as well as both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1968. She also sang at the 1971 Super Bowl and co-hosted the nationally televised segment of the Orange Bowl Parade for nine years.
Bryant had become prominent in Florida as a spokesperson for orange growers when she launched her successful effort to repeal a Miami-Dade County ordinance that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. “I got involved only because they were asking for special privileges that violated the state law of Florida, not to mention God’s law,” she later told Playboy.
Despite the campaign’s success, she subsequently lost her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission and reported a half-million dollar loss in concert bookings. The resulting vitriol also included her famously being hit in the face with a pie during an Iowa news conference by a man posing as a reporter.
Bryant married NASA test astronaut Charlie Dry after a divorce from her first husband; Dry died in April 2024. She is survived by four children, two stepdaughters, seven grandchildren and their spouses “who will cherish her legacy of faith and love,” the family says in her obituary.
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