Wilma Earlene Bankston

WILMA EARLENE BANKSTON Funeral services for former longtime area resident Wilma Earlene Bankston will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, December 3 at the Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at the Summit Ridge Cemetery. Wilma was born the fourth of seven children on March 22, 1927 in Shawnee, Okla. the daughter of Earl and Cora (Vaught) Crisp. She passed away on Sunday, November 27, 2005 at her home in Rio Rancho, N.M. after a short struggle with pancreatic cancer. Wilma was 78 years old. Wilma’s family moved to SW Colorado when she was an infant and she made Colorado home most of her life. She graduated from high school in Ogden, Utah where her father worked at Hill Air Force Base during WWII. After high school she returned to Colorado to teach the one room school in Disappointment Valley. July 17, 1946 she married Vernon Bankston, a young rancher from the valley whom she had known since junior high in Norwood, Colo. The family moved out of state several times, living in California and New Mexico, but always returned to Southwest Colorado to be at or near the Bankston family ranch. After Vernon’s retirement from uranium mining in Grants, N.M. they moved back to Disappointment to run the ranch. After Vernon’s death in 1989, Wilma began to winter in Arizona and return to Disappointment and Dolores for the summer. In May of 2005 she relocated to the home of her daughter, Marsha Bankston in Rio Rancho, N.M. because of failing health. Wilma is best known as the author of the local history, “Where Eagles Winter.” She was a loving and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She was an energetic, “get it done” person who loved history and roaming the ranch looking for arrowheads and memorabilia. Anyone who “dropped in” (and with no phone service at the ranch “drop in” was all anyone could do.) knew what a gracious and hospitable hostess she was. She was a lifelong member of the Southwestern Cowbelles. She was also an avid bridge player and concentrated her efforts on that activity during the winters in Bullhead City, Ariz. Surviving Wilma are her children, Marsha Bankston of Rio Rancho, N.M., Cliff and his wife, Cindy of Disappointment Valley, and Danny and wife, Carole of Dolores; her five grandchildren, Dallas Bankston and fiancé, Kristy Everett of Los Angeles, Calif., Ryan Louchard and wife, Lisa, Elena Louchard all of Rio Rancho, N.M., Adam Bankston of Disappointment, and Andrew Bankston of Farmington, N.M.; her step-granddaughters, Nicole Hall and husband, Mick of Peoria, Ariz., Brigitte Strawmatt and husband, Mike of Arvada, Colo.; one great-grandson, Ryan Isaac Louchard of Rio Rancho, N.M.,; her step great-grandson, Austin Hall of Peoria, Ariz.; and her siblings, Noel, Lloyd and Dennis Crisp all of Corvallis, Oreg., and Bernice Peterson of Freemont, Calif.; as well as 13 nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, Vernon; her brothers, Wilburn and Tommy; and her great-grandson, Dustin Louchard. Memorial contributions can be made in Wilma’s name to the American Cancer Society.