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Barbara Bryn Wycoff Gipson passed away in Houston, Texas on November 27, 2018. Bryn was 72 years old. Bryn was born in McAllen, Texas on November 22, 1946 to Margaret West Wycoff and John Curtis Wycoff, Sr.
Bryn had many loving, lifelong friends including those from Lake Jackson, Texas where she graduated from Brazosport High School. Bryn attended the University of Texas in Austin and graduated from the University of Houston. She had a career in computer sales and as an educator in Texas public schools. Bryn lived in La Porte, Jamaica Beach and Houston, Texas with several exciting years in Alaska and Aruba.
Bryn is survived by her son, Mark Gipson; brother, Thomas Wycoff and his wife Janice; brother, John Cy. Wycoff and his wife Melinda; three nephews; one niece; and two great-nephews.
Bryn’s family would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Leon (Bubba) Daily for the tremendous love, care and support he gave to Bryn which provided so much joy to her life and dignity throughout her illness. Additionally, Dr. Daily would like to join the family in thanking Margaret King for her exemplary and professional nursing care.
Bryn will be remembered for her passion for life, learning, travel, nature and was always the first to organize an adventure. She loved the beach, hiking, bird watching and visiting parks and forests in all 50 states. Bryn had a passion for conservation and ecology which she lovingly shared with family, friends and students both in her classroom and as one of the first docents at Armand Bayou Nature Center.
A private memorial gathering will be held in Houston in January. Bryn will also be remembered when visiting the beach, take a hike in the mountains, enjoying a walk through a park or when celebrating a beautiful sunset.
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Bill Marshall
I met Bryn in the 7th or 8th Grade at Lake Jackson Junior High. I was not around her a lot in Junior High, but I do remember that I had a hard time in pronouncing her first name. She was the first Bryn I met. I kept calling her Bryan....not Bryn....not on purpose....just had not heard the name Bryn before. I remember that she was a very intelligent person and it showed in the way she carried herself. I do not recall seeing Bryn after we graduated from High School. I am not sure that Bryn attended any of the reunions....if so I missed remembering that. Bryn was an intelligent, attractive and to the point person. Rest in Peace Bryn.
Ben Hardin
I met Bryn in 8th grade when she moved to LJ. I had an instant crush.. In 9th grade she was my square dance partner in PE. I was in heaven. My crush never went away.. Senior year she was actually my girlfriend at least until she went to college. I loved her completely and tragically. She broke my heart but I never gave up. We hung around together at UT the first two years. The summer of 1967 I I spent in Europe.The day she was married I was in Greece. I had a double sized bottle of Retsina (the Greek rotgut wine) and sat on a cliff overlooking the sea and wrote a profane play. Years later at Dale Heiman's house in Freeport we recorded the play with Ricky Lorfing, Jim Davis, Mike Day, Dale Heiman, Dale Box, maybe Curtis and me reading the parts. I do not know who has the recording but it is probably lost to time. But the play is in my desk. Farewell Bryn, my first love.
Al Morris
Can't say enough nice things about Bryn. She and a few others were always very nice to me, even though we didn't really run in the same circles in HS. It hurts me to see that she has left us. God Speed Ma'am!
Vivian Boggs (Ferreira)
My darling Bryn left this earth a few weeks ago. She had been ill for some time and now she is thankfully at peace. I’ve been wanting to write a tribute to her for a while, but I have been just too busy lately to do much of anything except what is right in front of me. I’ve taken a few minutes today to say what has been in my heart and mind about her.
Bryn came to me in a dream not too long after she passed. In the dream I was at a party with some other BHS grads and I was serving myself a big plate of salad and dressing and I saw Bryn. I told her in the dream that I wanted to write about her and would it be okay with her. She said, yes, but she wanted to read what I wrote before I published it. I knew in the dream that she was gone, but I promised her that I would let her read whatever I wrote first. She and I started to talk about my cousin Punki and how she had been gone for almost 20 years. I began to cry into my salad, huge crocodile tears. I awoke and continued to cry, mourning all my big losses. I think that I am keeping my promise to Bryn. I’m sure she is reading this as I write the words.
Bryn appeared in my life one day in middle school. She was one of those friends that wasn’t there one day, but was there the next. We became good friends and remained close all thru school and after. She was one of my lunch buddies. For two or maybe all three of my high school years she sat to my right every day at lunch. Javiera was always to my left and Bryn to my right. It never varied. It is no surprise that my dream about her included food. That is what we did together mostly. We always had some carrot sticks or celery or some such stupid thing for lunch, trying to do what, I don’t know, with our healthy teenaged bodies. Like most adolescent girls, we were obsessed with calories. It is telling that in my dream about her I’m eating salad.
Our senior year we went to a high school conference in Austin and were roommates at the Stephen F. Austin Hotel. This was a really big deal for two small town high school girls. It was against the conference rules for us to get into a cab. However Bryn was in relationship with her future husband, Charlie, who was in school at UT and she wanted to see him while we were there. I was all for breaking the rules and grabbing a cab. Who would know, right? But not Bryn, no way. We walked the more than a mile to the UT campus from the hotel, Bryn saw Charlie and we walked back. God only knows why I went with her. I had no interest in seeing Charlie or walking nearly three miles to do it. But Bryn didn’t want to go alone and her power was such that she convinced me to join her. It was a sort of adventure that I remember all these years later.
After graduation for several years Bryn and Charlie held a gathering at Bryn’s parents’ house on Xmas Day Night for anyone who was in town and wanted to reconnect with old classmates and friends. It was an informal word of mouth get together and you never knew who would show. I went several years to it and always enjoyed seeing everyone again. Also good memories. Bryn had this wonderful laugh and hearing her laugh I imagine was like hearing the angels sing.
I saw Bryn often at high school reunions and her presence was always one of my favorite parts. The last reunion I noticed her absence and asked about her, only to find out that she was ill and that I would probably never see her again. And now she is really gone and I feel such a loss. She will never know how much she meant to me for all those years.