Elliott, Deena Kay (Bryant)

Deena Kay (Bryant) Elliott is typified by her intelligence, leadership instinct, and devotion to her family. They have made her a person well loved by a great many people.

Early Life
Deena was born on Mother's Day, 10 May 1959, to James Hickman Bryant and Patricia Jean (Hardy) Bryant. She was the second daugher and fourth child of the two.

Service in the United States Navy
Deena followed her father and her brothers, Johnny Bryant and Murray Allen Bryant, in enlisting in the United States Navy. She rose to the rate of Hospital Corpsman, Third Class, before enrolling the the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. A number of factors contributed to her resignation from the program, and she accepted an honorable discharge from the Navy early in 1981.

Love, Marriage, and Relocation
While at Iowa State University, Deena met the man who would become her husband, Kevin Jay Elliott. They married in Hanna City, Illinois, on 6 June 1981.

Finding that the midwest was trapped in a recession, she and Kevin moved to the oil boom town of Shreveport Louisiana. There they began their family.

In Kerrville
Worsened financial prospects and the death of her father. The confluence prompted Deena to move with her family to Kerrville, Texas, where her mother was dwelling after the death of her father. There, Deena would work over the next twenty years and more as a tax preparer, retail inventory specialist, cashier, scan coordinator, and bookkeeper, pausing only briefly due to a heart attack suffered at age 40.

In the aftermath of the heart attack, Deena conceived of and pursued a passion for work in stained glass. Over the next few years, she taught herslf glass-cutting techniques, eventually beginning to show and sell her work at local and area craft shows as Heart's Desire Stained Glass until its dissolution in 2012. In that capacity, she and her family pursued a number of large projects, notable the replalcement of plain windows with high quality art glass displays in the Center Point First Baptist Church in Center Point, Texas. Also in that capacity, she attracted the attention of the Kerr County Market Association, which invited her to manage the monthly Market Days craft show. Deena did so for a number of years, serving until July 2011,

Her work on stained glass and with the Market Days did not stop Deena form maintaining regular employment. She returned to tax preparation in 2007, taking employment with Liberty Tax Service in Kerrville, Texas. There, she rose to the position of Lead Preparer and, in 2010, to manager.

Throughout, Deena remained dedicated primarily to her children, Geoffrey Bryce Elliott and Daniel James Elliott. She persistently put off doing things for her own enjoyment so as to see to their comfort and happiness. She also made a point of providing them with ample and abundant intellectual stimulation; books abounded in her house, and word games were her primary means of entertaining her children. One of the most notable of these was the creating of humorous false etymologies for words, which fostered improvisational skills in her children.

In addition, Deena consistently advocated at schools or the benefit of her children On a number of occasions, when school officials sought to levy punishments against her sons, Deena quashed those actions. Also, as a member of the Kerrville Independent School District Band Boosters, she aided in raising funds for the program both her sons were heavily engaged in, including the securing of a grant of nearly $200,000 for equipment and instruments.

Deena was also the primary point of contact for her extended family. At the most local level, she kept the explosive tempers of her husband and older son in balance. Also, she served as the main means of contact among her siblings, among whom there was some animosity following the death of their father. She was further the primary support for her mother after the death of her father, as well as for her uncle, Edwin Dennis Hardy, when he lived in the Texas Hill Country from the 1990s through 2010s.