Edison Glenn Banks Sr.

    Edison Glenn Banks, Sr., entered eternal life Monday, November 8, 2021 at the Whitesburg Appalachian Regional Hospital. He was born, December 9, 1934 to the late Earl and Louanna Caudill Banks. 

    He was known as “Glenn” to everyone but his mother and her sisters, to them, he was “Edison Glenn” To his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, he is known only as “Poppie.” He was born on Little Cowan on December 9, 1934. He grew up in the same house and never left home until he went to Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee. He went there for one year and then joined the United States Air Force for four years in the Strategic Air Command (S.A.C.).

    After four years there, he came home and met and married Sue Flanary Banks and they raised a family of three children together. 

In 1962, Glenn started teaching at Eolia, Kentucky. He was there for two years. He attended Union College in the summer months between school years. He also taught one  year at Upper Kings Creek.

Soon, the day came when he joined his aunt, the late Edrie Banks, at Little Cowan School where he served as the Head Teacher and taught the upper grades while Aunt Edrie took the lower grades. This was his dream come true, to be able to “teach with Aunt Edrie in Little Cowan School.” He had nearly completed the 1963-64 school year when the new Cowan Elementary Consolidated School was finished. He then began teaching the sixth grade at the new school while Aunt Edrie taught second grade. For years he would run into former students that he called his “kids” while out and about and they still referred to him as “Mr. Banks.”

    He loved to recount his days as a teacher, sharing stories of Little Cowan. One of his favorites was of a young boy who lost his billfold down the toilet in the boy’s bathroom. Determined to help retrieve the billfold, Glenn sent one of the Day boys home to get a fishing pole. The boys were happy to spend the rest of their school day “fishing” in the bathroom.

    Pranks were common at Little Cowan, especially by the boys who were students there. One whose instigator remains a secret today is when it became a usual ritual on the way to the boy’s toilet to make a brief stop by the neighbor’s chicken house which was built on long poles and whittle a little on one of the poles, until one day, the whole chicken house fell down the hill.

    Glen also worked as the Assistant Manager of Home Lumber Company on Railroad Street in Whitesburg before beginning his career with the United States Postal Service where he worked until his retirement 31 years later.

    In addition to his wife, Sue, Glenn is survived by a son: Edison G. Banks II of Little Cowan; and two daughters: Mary (Marty) Richardson of Little Cowan, and Amanda (Tyler) Galer of Ludlow, Kentucky; five grandchildren: Ashley (Brandon) Holland, Nicole Banks Davis, Haley Sizemore, Katie Galer and Kyle Galer; and great grandchildren, Makayla and Sophie Grace Holland, and Hallie Davis.

    A sister, Christine Dale (Bob) Gatton of Knoxville, Tennessee, and special friend, Randy Jack Day of Little Cowan also survive.

    He was preceded in death by a brother, Ronald Earl Banks.

   Glenn was a devoted son, brother, husband, father but above all, a Poppie. He leaves a host of family and friends to cherish his memory.

Funeral: 1:00 O'clock P.M. Thursday, November 11, 2021 at the Little Cowan Primitive Baptist Church with Johnny Banks and Bill Craft officiating. Visitation: 7:00 P.M. Wednesday at the Little Cowan Primitive Baptist Church. Burial will follow in the Banks Family Cemetery at Little Cowan, Kentucky.