User:Robert McKenna
The Donnybrook Fruit Growers Association noted an article on Ivan Bright of Hope, Arkansas, reported in the Hope Star on August 14th 2006.
It is coincidental that he died on the thirtieth anniversary of the Hope Watermelon Festival, an event for which he was renowned as he was the developer of the world's largest watermelons. This fact can be attested by citations in the Guiness Book of World Records.
Not only a farmer, Bright worked in the grocery business, and with his extended family, developed a Carolina Cross/Cobb Gem hybrid watermelon in the family's traditional watermelon patch, in the Rocky Mound Community. Bright's son actually raised the 268.8 pound Carolina Cross in 2005, and this monster still holds the world record mark.
Survivors who will inherit the mantle of Ivan Bright include his son Lloyd Bright, two daughters Barbara Jones and Patricia Rhoads, and grandchildren including Melissa Curtis Somoza and Richard Bright. The Association extends sympathy to all the family but hope that the legacy Of Ivan will continue.