Ervin Otis Banks

Ervin O. Banks, age 69, passed away peacefully at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, Washington on September 22, 2016, surrounded by his family. He was born on June 22, 1947 in Ashville, North Carolina.

He is survived by his wife Deborah K Banks of 38 years who resides in Gig Harbor, Washington; children Lisa Banks (Michael) Croke of Sedro Woolley, WA, Christopher Anderson of Shelton, WA, and Brenda Banks of Port Orchard, WA; grandchildren Dalton Anderson of Shelton WA, Brandon Anderson of Rochester WA, Gabriel Anderson of Shelton, WA, Sydney (Anderson) McChord from Round-Up, MT, Chelsey Banks Conda of Burlington, WA, Corey Summers of Sedro Woolley, WA, Cammey Croke from Sedro Woolley, WA, Kenya Anderson from Olympia, WA, and Brayden Snow of Port Orchard, WA; great-grandchildren Skylker Summers and Caroline Summers, both of Oak Harbor, WA, Bently Michael Allen from Sedro Woolley, WA, Skarlett Anderson of Shelton, WA; brothers Grady (Vivian) Banks of Shelton, WA and Arnold (Marie) Banks of Ashville, NC, sisters Aliene Olson of Olympia, WA and Annette (JC) Clark of Clyde NC; nieces and nephews from Shelton, Port Orchard, and Poulsbo, Washington, North Carolina and Orlando, Florida.

He was preceded in death by his parents Joseph Arthur Banks who passed away in February of 1961 and Helen Elizabeth Banks who passed away in March of 1965, both in tragic accidents; son Michael Anderson passed away May 26, 2009; and brother Morris Banks in 2013.

Ervin grew up in West Ashville, North Carolina for 13 ½ years of his life, with his parents, brothers, sister, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. He attended school at Emma Elementary in a small rural community. Being the youngest of 4 boys, Ervin often got teased, and hand me downs. Life was simple, they lived in a 4 room house, grew a big garden, and did canning for the winter. He would attend school and play outside until way after dark, catch fireflies, play in the creek and catch crawdads, and listen to the sweet sounds of the Guitar and Mandolin that his father would often play. His father was a very talented musician – it’s been told he could play anything with strings and would often play for church services held at Ervin’s grandmother’s house on the hill where she lived.

Erving left North Carolina with his mother, his brother Grady and his wife, and sister Aliene to look for work in Washington at the Cement Plant in Concrete. They settled there and travelled to the area in the early 1960’s. Ervin had his 14th Birthday on the road trip.

Ervin’s mother remarried and brought the 3 youngest children to Washington, splitting up the family. The in 1964 Ervin’s mother was killed in a tragic Auto/Log Truck accident. Ervin spent the next 2 years living in Concrete and went to school at the Junior High in town. He did not like the move out west. He spent his time with his high school sweetheart Linda Messer and adopted parents Jim & Paulie Dillard, and his girlfriend’s brothers and his brother Grady and his wife Vivian for the next 2 years. Ervin started his first public job when he was 17 years old. He went to work for a local mill eventually driving a logging truck. In 1965 he married his high school sweetheart Linda B. Messer and in 1966 they moved to Ferndale, Washington and Ervin went to work for Intalco Aluminum Plant Co. He and his wife together built a home there. They lived and worked there for almost 4 years and then on March 13, 1970 a daughter was born to them – Lisa Marie Banks. Ervin left the Intalco Plant in 1971 after turning down a job to go overseas to start a plant as the Foreman/Manager. So the family made the decision to move from Ferndale to Mt Vernon where Ervin worked for local farmers, plowing fields and harvesting potatoes and corn. Later moving again to Everett, Washington for a time and in 1972 Ervin went to work for Scott Paper Company and worked in the logging camp and mill as a log truck driver and water truck driver. In and around 1974, the family moved back to Sedro Woolley and area of Clearlake.

Ervin became a member of Clearlake Baptist Church and was baptized in 1975. In 1976 he and his wife of 10 years separated and became divorced on April 2, 1976. In that same year, Ervin moved to Shelton, Washington where his brother Grady Banks and his wife Vivian resided. Ervin continued to work and commute to Lester, Washington for Scott Paper Company until the spring of 1977. In the meantime, he met and dated his current wife Debbie from Port Orchard, who had moved to Shelton. But, in August of 1976 until December 24th, Debbie left and went to California for 6 months. Upon her return, she and Ervin got together again and lived together in Shelton and were married on August 15, 1978 in Montesano, Washington. Ervin worked for several companies that year driving a dump truck, lowboy, and other heavy equipment. In the same year, he went to work for Simpson Timber Company driving a log truck. In 1985 the last of the logging camps shut down and Ervin was transferred to the mill in town and worked there for the next 5 ½ years.

Erving and his family moved from Shelton in 1988 to Seabeck, Washington near Silverdale and continued to work for Simpsons Mill, commuting from Seabeck for 2 ½ years of that time on swing shift, and finally quit in 1990. He was unemployed when Ervin had to make a trip up North to Sedro Woolley to settle his mother’s estate. He me up with Violet (Paulie and Jim Dillard) and Jim who worked for a company in Mt Vernon named Carroll Mill. They hired Erin on the spot and he drove truck hauling lumber. So in 1990, the family made the transition to move to Skagit County first in a motor home in Mt. Vernon, then to a small house in Sedro Woolley. This transition was hard on the family. They went back and forth for nearly 2 years and in 1992 our daughter Brenda was born in Shelton where Debbie stayed for a time. But, in October of 1992, we moved back up North because Ervin was working for Bill Curry. We got an apartment in Burlington, then migrated up river to Birdsview, then concrete in 1993. I was working at Lake Tyee, then Ervin came to work at Lake Tyee. We bought our home in Concrete in November of 1996.

Ervin worked for a company out of Canada and then Puget Sound Truck Lines in 2001. He had a serious illness and emergency surgery and could no longer work at truck driving Then in 2002, we lost our home to the worst flood in Concrete’s history. We stayed in Concrete for another 2 years, and in 2004 Ervin’s sister-in-law Donna had Lung Cancer and we moved again to Port Orchard to help her and the family. We spent 7 years in Port Orchard and moved to Gig Harbor in 2010, where Ervin resided until his death. Ervin still continued to work, even after awarded early retirement. He worked at odd jobs, mowing lawns or working on a car or small engine repair. He never really took much money, he just loved helping people. Ervin became involved working at an area food bank which he loved. Also working for a wonderful man as his handy man, they became great friends. Ervin liked to live simple. He loved the ways of his youth – canning, gardening, Bluegrass and Country music. He was never envious of what he didn’t have. He always managed to have what was needed. He took care of his family and protected them. Ervin had a huge heart for serving others. He would help anyone in need. He gave unselfishly anything he had to his friends, his family, co-workers, and even strangers. If you called him in the middle of the night, he would come to help you. He would volunteer or be a caregiver for someone sick or elderly. He loved to serve others. He was a great man, a good father, a loving husband, and the best and wonderful friend you could ever have. Ervin had a great many friends, and dearly loved every one, and a brother you could always count on. The uncle that all the nieces and nephews adored. He loved to tease and play with the kids, played horse shoes and cards. He loved to tell stories and always telling jokes and make you laugh. He loved kids. He was the best grandpa. He loved his family with all his heart his beautiful wife and children, and everyone of his wife’s family, extended family and friend’s. Ervin loved people. This is one of the best loved memories.

Ervin loved spending time with family. He enjoyed camping, fishing, hiking, and hunting. He loved the outdoors. He loved going to Packwood with friends and family for a yearly get together. He loved garage sales. He enjoyed home canning and gardening. The family took many trips and vacations together to Disneyland in 1982, to Idaho, to North Carolina. He loved auto racing and even raced at Skagit Speedway. He used to do a little boxing. He enjoyed things like solving math problems. In his high school days, he like baseball and tether ball, but most of all his passion was playing pool. He play all the time on several teams, played many tournaments. He played in a Vegas style tournament in Lincoln City, Oregon for 3 or 4 years, and in 2015 he placed in the top 24 out of 258 players in his division and he was never so proud of his accomplishment. In the early years in Concrete, Ervin coached Girls Soccer for 4 years. Ervin was a long time Eagles member and a member of the Shelton Moose. He was a member of 1st Baptist Church in Port Orchard. He was a beautiful and wonderful husband. He enjoyed life to the fullest even during his illness, he still worked for his longtime friend Walley and went on trips, camping and playing cards. He always made people laugh with his jokes. He took life as it came. He smiled even in the midst of suffering or pain. He rarely complained, although he was very tough and stubborn and had a little orneriness steak from time to time. I celebrate his life. He was sweet and loving and never will a day go by that I won’t think of him. He will be greatly missed by everyone forever!

Ervin had an unselfish, unconditional love for people and for life. He loved his neighbors, he loved his family very much and had a huge affection for his brothers, and he loved and cared for all of his nieces and nephews. He cherished his friends and had a great many friends.

Ervin was a truck driver with 35 years of service and heavy equipment operator, including D8 cat skidder, dump truck, backhoe and others. Ervin would also drive cross country. He drove the “big rigs” as he called them. He drove through all lower 48 states, except for Florida. Ervin worked hard and played hard. Ervin worked as a handyman doing yard work and landscaping. He would often work on cars for friends and neighbors. He installed septic tanks and fixed them, installed drain fields, cut down dangerous trees, and much, much more. At Lake Tyee, which was a place he absolutely loved working, he was devastated after our cherished, wonderful friends and boss Aggie and Michelle left.

Erving loved helping others. He had a huge heart for service to others, this became his mission in life. He was doing God’s work, it’s hard to list all the things that he had done for friends, family and neighbors. Caregiving for the elderly, house sitting, wood cutting, just about anything. My fondest memory is when Ervin laughed and smiled. I always knew he was happy. He was funny and so loved to tell stories and jokes, some dry humor and not so nice ones and other good ones. But, I don’t know how, but he always could remember a joke. He loved to make others laugh. He would always tell me, “Don’t you cry because I hate to see you sad”, and would tell me “Now smile for me”. Sometimes, he would grab my cheeks in his hands and smooch my face. Ervin loved to dance – he and his wife both. We danced in the rain we danced in the woods, and he created his own funny dance he called the “Crank”. He was a great dancer, he loved country music and Bluegrass, the old country, he never liked today’s sound of country. He would often say “if it ain’t country, it ain’t music”. Ervin was also very proud of seeing his children and grandchildren graduate from school.

Ervin loved life. He loved the outdoors, his favorite activities were camping, fishing, picnics, playing horseshoes, which he was pretty good at. He also enjoyed hunting and went deer and elk hunting nearly every year, until about 1998. He took many family vacations. One that he loved was returning to North Carolina for the first time in 30 years, and a trip we took to Canada in our old Airstream trailer. We made several other trips to Disneyland in 1982, to Idaho, when his sister moved there for a time, and 2 or 3 more trips back to North Carolina. Ervin loved adventure hiking in the woods. We made the Olympic Loop Trip twice in the last 2 summers and yearly trips to Packwood camping. At first it was just family and a couple of dear friends. But over the years it grew to more than 30 people camping or visiting. He loved gardening and canning so we would go across the mountain to Yakima to get fruits and vegetables. There are many funny stories and I hope that everyone will share and remember.

I loved him with all my heart and soul, we all did. He was a wonderful man.

Memorial Service will be at the First Christian Church, 4885 SW Hovde Road, Port Orchard, WA 98367 in Port Orchard. For more information call the church office at (360) 876-8172. In lieu of flowers, send cards or donation to Deborah Banks in care of First Christian Church.