Northside High School grad killed in crash loved outdoors, church 

A 19-year-old Northside High School graduate who harbored hopes of being part of “something bigger” was killed last week in South Carolina.

Kyle Todd Bryant, who graduated from Northside in 2012, had recently enlisted in the Navy and was set to attend boot camp in January. He died Sept. 3 after being struck by a car along the side of a South Carolina road.

His mother, Teresa Eaton, said Bryant spent most of his adolescence in north Roanoke County, playing a barrage of sports and ultimately finding a passion for the outdoors and Scouting.

Eaton said Bryant was an enthusiastic member of the Boy Scouts of America for many years. Bryant’s aunt, Christie Payne, said Scouting was where the idea to join the Navy sprouted.

“He loved feeling like he was part of something bigger,” Payne said.

She said Bryant committed fully to his passions.

“Everything he did, he did wide open,” Payne said. “He either did it 100 percent or not at all.”

One of those was the local church he joined a year and a half ago, Church Alive International. Under the guidance of the church’s pastors and his longtime neighbors, Carey and Vannie Harrell, Bryant found a new community as he transitioned into adult life.

“I think anybody he met, he made an impact on because anything he did, he did with everything he had,” Vannie Harrell said.

The Harrells described Bryant as exuberant. When he was baptized, just a few months ago, Carey Harrell said Bryant emerged with his hands to the sky.

Within the multicultural church, he became a little brother to many of the men and an object of fascination for many women who he allowed to touch his red hair, Carey Harrell said.

Payne also recalled her redhead nephew’s ability to collect friends easily, a proclivity that revealed itself at an early age.

He was 2 or 3 years old, she said, when she took him on a trip and ended up at the hotel pool near a couple lying on chairs. He went straight to the unknown people, she said.

“He put his foot up on a lawn chair and his hand on his hip and said, ‘My name’s Kyle Todd Bryant, what’s yours?’ ” Payne said.

According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Bryant was struck by a car along Singleton Ridge Road in Horry County, near Myrtle Beach, just after 3:15 a.m. on Sept. 3. His family said he was on vacation.

Highway patrol said Bryant and another man were talking improperly in the road and were struck by a Chevrolet SUV. The other man was not injured, and the driver of the SUV was not charged with any violation because the men were in the road.

Bryant died that night, about 9:40 p.m. Bryant’s family said he succumbed to traumatic injuries from the collision.

Bryant was memorialized in a funeral Tuesday.

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