When they moved to Lewis County in the late 1930s, George and Cleo Bryant lived in a tarpaper shack near Toledo High School’s football field until George found work in the woods near Kosmos (which is buried under Riffe Lake today).
“Grandma knew the way out of poverty was education, so she did chores and all kinds of side jobs or whatever she needed to do in order to scratch together enough money to put Dad in St. Mary’s,” said Bill Bryant, a Port of Seattle commissioner and foreign trade expert.
Bryant, who wants to replace Gov. Jay Inslee in 2016 as the state’s top executive, told the Lewis County Republican Club Thursday that he grew up hearing stories emphasizing that “life wasn’t going to just come my way; I was going to have to work hard.”
For example, after graduating from Mossyrock, his father attended Eastern Washington University in Cheney on a football scholarship. But one summer he didn’t have money for a bus ticket to return for football camp, risking his scholarship. So, Bryant said, his grandparents, his dad and the woman who became his mom took gunnysacks into the woods to gather cones and strip cascara bark “until they had enough to sell to buy Dad a bus ticket to Cheney.”
When he lived in Hoodsport in fifth grade, Bryant said, he wanted a new bike. “I was told I had to earn the money for it,” he said. So, after hearing tourists complain about the gas stations’ dirty bathrooms, the young boy stopped at each station and offered to clean their bathrooms every Saturday for 75 cents each. “I was making three bucks every Saturday, which was huge money in the late 1960s,” he said.
The following summer, he picked strawberries at Silver Creek and raspberries and blueberries for Aldrich’s in Mossyrock, finally earning enough for a bike.
Bryant also learned from his grandparents — who helped resurrect Mossyrock’s Pioneer Days — the importance of giving back to the community. “You have to get active and build your community and give to people who need help,” he said, such as those who are temporarily homeless.
After graduating from Olympia’s Capital High School and studying trade and diplomacy at Georgetown University, Bryant worked with Govs. John Spellman and Booth Gardner on trade issues. He trekked across Tibet and communist China, a learning experience.
“If I’m ever given a choice that involves increasing the power of the individual and increasing the power of the government, I’m going to side with increasing the power of the individual,” he said to applause.
Moving to Yakima in 1985, he worked to eliminate trade barriers for the apple industry. In 1992, he settled in Seattle and started Bryant Christie Inc., which helps clients eliminate trade barriers and identify international markets. His business began in his basement with an idea and a fax machine; 23 years later, Bryant and his two partners employ nearly 35 people at offices in Seattle and Sacramento.
He learned the importance of fiscal responsibility and reinventing yourself, skills put into practice at the Port of Seattle during the recession. Rather than raising taxes, port commissioners reviewed every program and eliminated those no longer needed.
“We cut the budget 10 percent, we cut payroll costs 7 percent, we added to the cash reserves, and we cut property taxes in the midst of the recession, and we came out more powerful than we went into it,” Bryant said. “That approach is what’s not happening in Olympia right now.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we need to fire our governor.”
•••
Julie McDonald, a personal historian and former journalist who lives in Toledo, owns Chapters of Life, a company dedicated to preserving family stories. She may be reached at memorybooks@chaptersoflife.com.
