LeVerne Samuel Gantt went by many names during his life. The children at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder, called him Sonny Bunny. Others preferred to call him Sunshine, presumably because of his love of life and his habit of smiling. However, most people called him Sonny, and it’s clear after a lifetime in Selma that he’ll be greatly missed.

Gantt, who was born in Selma in 1930, passed away this weekend in his hometown.

Although he had many interests, Gantt may have been best known in Selma for his delicious candies. He and his wife Nancy started Gantt Candies in 1992 after family friends begged Sonny to make the candy his dad, LeVerne Gantt, used to make when he operated the Selma Candy Company.

It took several attempts before Sonny was able to match the flavor of his dad’s peanut brittle, but, eventually, it became Gantt Candies’ signature. Once he got the recipe right, Sonny took his peanut brittle to the Central Alabama Fair and won a prize.

“It looked so good that they gave me a blue ribbon,” he said during a Selma The Magazine interview in 2013. “I said geez, if it tastes good and looks good, it must be pretty good.”

The candy is currently sold all over Selma. Nancy said Sonny taught a couple of guys how to make the candy and hopes that it can continue to be made in the future. 

“His most famous was the peanut brittle. That’s what everybody asked for,” said Sonny’s daughter, Eleanor Anne Gantt. “He loved to go in the kitchen and try new recipes and would bring it to his constituents to try out his new recipes, but [that] was always the favorite.”

Sonny and Nancy made pralines, chocolate delight and almond brittle as part of their brand. Sonny’s candy was so good that he earned another nickname — “the candy man.”

“I can go out anywhere and [people] say ‘Did you bring me any candy?” Sonny said in 2013. “It’s like I have candy stuck all over me.”

But there was much more to Sonny than just candy.

He was heavily involved at Cornerstone Presbyterian, where he taught Sunday School, was a youth leader and was active with the men’s prayer breakfast.

Charles Kerridge, a close friend, said he and Sonny would often cook breakfast at the church.

“He never met a stranger,” Kerridge said.

Even in his 70s, Sonny refused to slow down.

Kerridge said Sonny picked up golf at age 75 and fell in love with it quickly.

“He wasn’t especially good at golf, but he didn’t let that bother him at all. He was smart enough to have a wonderful time playing golf,” said Roger Butler, another friend. “That’s why you’re supposed to play golf is to have a good time.”

Eleanor said Sonny also took up yoga and jazzercise in his 70s. He also continued to make candy in the family’s “candy house,” which sits behind their property in Old Town.

“Sonny always had a young attitude toward life,” Butler said. “He always seemed to act younger than he was. He enjoyed things people 10 to 15 years younger than him would enjoy.”

One of the only reasons Sonny would slow down was to watch an Alabama football game. He was a huge fan of the Crimson Tide after attending the University of Alabama in his younger days.

Butler said the Gantts usually had the biggest television in the neighborhood, just so Sonny could watch Alabama play. But most of the time, he was always busy doing something, whether it was bettering his candy recipes, reading or volunteering at the church.

“As he would say, ‘I want my giddy up to keep going,” Eleanor said. “He was never one to sit around and be a little old man.”

Gantt is survived by Nancy, his wife of 45 years; daughters Adelle Gantt Johnston (Robert) of Palmer, Alaska and Eleanor Anne Gantt of Birmingham, Al.; sister, Peggy Poteet (Jim) of Fairhope; grandchildren, Robert Johnston (Season), Ann Johnston and Eleanor Johnston of Anchorage, Alaska, Carter Taunton (Jason) of Eclectic, Benson Mulvaney and Sarah Drew Mulvaney of Birmingham; five great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Steve Burton officiating and Lawrence Brown-Service Funeral Home directing. Private burial will follow. Visitation will be held in the Warren Room of Cornerstone Presbyterian from 1 – 1:45 p.m., before the service.