by Aïda Rogers
March 2011 – Cover Story
Photography by Patrick Wright
She laughs and calls herself “chicken-liver” and “city slicker,” but somehow Ginny Dent Brant found the courage to go to Yemen to visit hospital missionaries working in a dangerous land. She laughs again, recalling herself as a stuttering, introverted child, so shy she couldn’t look up to greet even those she knew. But now this bubbly and forthcoming woman sings and speaks in churches, describing how God worked miracles for her and her family. In fact, Ginny Dent Brant laughs a lot, testament to a faith that saved her despite her awkward introversion, her mother’s depression, her husband’s cancer, and her famous, frequently absent father who later descended into severe dementia. Now, at 55, this Columbia native, former teen model, and new author looks back over her life and marvels at how God was in charge all along.
“I’ve learned not to make plans,” Ginny says, affirming that God’s plans are always better. That’s a lesson she learned the hard way. Of course, life wasn’t easy for the four children of Harry S. Dent, the St. Matthews native and lawyer who worked the inner circles of Washington, D.C., for years.
