Charles E. Bryan, 80, of Battle Ground, died at 1:55 p.m. Monday, January 5, 2009 at Lafayette Home Hospital. He had been in failing health for the last 3 months. He was born January 10, 1928 in Melvern, KS to the late William J. and Sylvia F. (Sell) Bryan. Charles married his sweetheart, Evelyn E. Claar, on May 28, 1948 in Topeka, KS. Charles and Evelyn celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past May. She survives. He was a US Army veteran, serving in Korea during the war as a Staff Sergeant in communications and was discharged in 1953. Dr. Bryan received his BS of Education in 1954 from Kansas State, a MS of Education in 1962 from Montana State and a PhD of Education in 1975 from Purdue University. His passion for learning and teaching drove the desire for advanced degrees and opportunities to teach in many areas of the country engaged in progressive education. He was active in the National Education Association and was Past-President of the Tippecanoe Teachers Association. He taught the last 19 years of his 42-year career at Battle Ground Elementary until retiring from teaching in 1990. He began his teaching career in Kansas in 1945 at age 17 in a one-room schoolhouse. He taught grades 1st through 8th to 18 students. Teaching in a rural community after WWII also meant cutting wood and rising before dawn to stoke the fire to heat the schoolhouse. Dr. Bryan with his family also raised organic produce, nuts and flowers, sharing the fruits of their labor at the Lafayette Farmers Market from their farm, Bryan's Biota. Recently Dr. Bryan was a participant in an ongoing study of the impact of Celiac disease on Alzheimer's. His family, gardening and all children were the light of his life. He lived a life of substance, never symbolism; his favorite phrase was "A new adventure every day!" and believing that, he quietly achieved many things we could not. Surviving with his wife are sons, Charles S. Bryan (wife: Jan) of West Lafayette and David Bryan (wife: Natasha) of Lafayette; a daughter, Donna Akers (husband: Larry) of Clarksville, Ohio and his brothers, Bill Bryan (wife: Eugenia) of Lawrence, KS and James D. Bryan (wife: Laurel) of Scranton, KS. Preceding him in death with his parents is a son, Carl Bryan and a sister, Nina May Kiefer. Friends may call from 6-8 p.m. Friday, January 9, 2009 at Hartzler-Clapper Funeral Home of Brookston. Service there 10 a.m. Saturday, January 10, 2009. Pastor Owen Mason to officiate. Private family interment to follow. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and may be made during service times or mailed to the Hartzler-Clapper Funeral Home (P.O. Box 509, Brookston, IN 47923).