Wally Bryan, former mayor and founder of Challenge House movement, has died

Bryan began work on the Challenge House concept to help the inner-city when he moved into a Durrett Avenue neighborhood apartment in 2004.

Wally Bryan, who served as Hopkinsville’s mayor for two terms in the 1990s and established the Challenge House movement to address poverty and inequality in the inner-city, has died.

Wally Bryan (Challenge House photo)

Bryan died shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday, May 14, at his South Main Street home, said funeral director Frank Giles. He died of natural causes.

Hughart, Beard and Giles Funeral Home is handling arrangements. A private service is planned, and burial will be in Riverside Cemetery. Because of restrictions on large gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak, traditional funeral services cannot be held at this time. The family plans a public event to honor Bryan at a date to be determined later.

Bryan was a real estate broker before being elected mayor as a Democrat. He ran again for mayor as an independent in 2018 and lost to incumbent Carter Hendricks.

After leaving city hall in 1998, Bryan became a high school teacher. 

In 2004, Bryan began work on the Challenge House concept when he sold his Alumni Avenue home and moved to an apartment in the Durrett Avenue neighborhood. He was 57 years old at that time.

Today there are seven Challenge Houses in the city’s oldest neighborhoods that help connect residents with help from churches, relief agencies and volunteers. 

In an interview with the Kentucky New Era in 2004, Bryan, explained his motivation to help the city’s poorest residents. It was an expression of his Christian faith and his affection for his hometown.

“I should have done this a long time ago,” he said. “This is my dream. This is my life now.”

Bryan is survived by his wife, Mary Keel Bryan; his sons, William Wallace “Will” (Maranda) Bryan III and David (Brooke) Bryan; his daughter, Amy Bryan (Dan) Padgett of Bowling Green; his sister, Betty Bryan (Dan) Thomas of Hopkinsville; and his grandchildren, Hannah Marie Bryan, William Wallace Bryan IV, Joseph “Joe” Padgett, Elizabeth “Lily” Padgett, Joshua “Davis” Padgett, and Maura Bryan; and his great-grandson: Brooks Adler Altman. 

The family has suggested the following organizations for memorial contributions: Challenge House, P.O. Box 462, Hopkinsville, KY 42241; Hopkinsville-Christian County YMCA, 7805 Eagle Way, Hopkinsville, KY 42240; Boys & Girls Club of Hopkinsville-Christian County, P.O. Box 1071, Hopkinsville, KY 42241; and Bud Hudson Youth Football c/o Boys & Girls Club of Hopkinsville–Christian County P.O. Box 1071, Hopkinsville, KY 42241. 

This story has been updated.

(Jennifer P. Brown is the editor and founder of Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org.)

Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.