~ IN MEMORY ~
(follow up story below)
Navy veteran, NC/RC (NWA) Alexander McQuary ‘Bill’
Banks
February 5, 1923 ~ July 12, 2013
Notification of the passing of retired pilot Alexander McQuary
‘Bill’ Banks, age 90.
To view/sign the online guestbook please visit the funeral
home website at http://www.washburn-mcreavy.com/
Survived by his wife Lucille ‘Lucy’, personal condolences may
be sent to the family at
9758 Gable Drive , Eden Prairie MN 55347-4329 ... (952)
974-3402
Obituary for Alexander McQuary "Bill" Banks
Born February 5, 1923 and peacefully passed away July 12, 2013
at home. Bill is survived by his wife of 36 years, Lucy; his son, Robert Banks
& wife Sandy; daughters, Roberta Banks, Marcia Banks and Shelley LeTendre.
"Grandpa Bill" has four grandchildren, Brian Banks, Brittany Banks, Bradley
Banks and Melita Jampol & husband Thaddeus. Zoe Jampol is his
great-granddaughter. He is also survived by brother-in-law, Joe Kraws. During
Bill's extended stay in the hospital, he spent many hours remembering those
people whose paths he felt so fortunate to have crossed. The timeline extended
from his days as a Navy Lieutenant, to the beginning of his airline career in
1948 with Wisconsin Central Airlines (later North Central Airlines then Republic
Airlines and Northwest Airlines). He also had fond remembrances of business
associates through his ownership of the W.R. Ringheim Company, Inc., his
racquetball buddies at the Decathlon Athletic Club, and golfing friends at the
Minneapolis Golf Club. Bill's wishes are being honored with a private funeral,
and burial at Ft. Snelling Cemetery. Please take a moment to remember your
special "Billyism," and if you wish, you may send memorials to the Animal Care
Center of St. John, PO Box 429, St. John, USVI 00831.
www.Washburn-McReavy.com Eden Prairie Chapel
952-975-0400
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Alexander McQuary "Bill'' Banks AIRLINE PILOT, HARDWARE STORE OWNER Veteran aviator saw airlines evolve : Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
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Alexander McQuary "Bill'' Banks AIRLINE PILOT, HARDWARE STORE OWNER Veteran aviator saw airlines evolve : Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice
Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) - Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Deceased Name: Alexander McQuary "Bill'' Banks AIRLINE PILOT, HARDWARE STORE OWNER Veteran aviator saw airlines evolve
Alexander McQuary "Bill" Banks, a U.S. Navy aviator during World War II, was the last surviving pilot of the original 16 who began flying for Wisconsin Central Airlines, an ancestor to three Twin Cities-based carriers.
Banks, who was 90 and had resided for many years in Bloomington, died July 12, after an extended hospital stay. In recent years, he and his wife, Lucy, split their residence between St. John, Virgin Islands, and Eden Prairie.
Banks was born and raised in Chicago, attended school there and enlisted in the Navy two months after the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack. After his flight training, he first served as a flight instructor in Texas, then in a divebombing squadron. He later piloted military transport planes in the Admiralty Islands and the Philippines.
In 1948, after leaving the Navy, he took a job with start-up regional airline Wisconsin Central, based in Madison, Wis. Banks was chosen — by drawing straws — as its senior captain, said Matt Ruper, who later served as a pilot for the airline.
Over his long career, Banks witnessed the airline industry's evolution from propellers to jets and the gradual consolidation of small, regional carriers into major U.S. airlines.
Wisconsin Central initially flew twin-propeller, nine-seat Lockheed 10As on routes in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Ruper said. The planes were so small that they had no flight attendants, so the pilot did double duty assisting passengers to their seats.
Some of the planes were less than perfectly maintained. Once, Banks touched down at the Milwaukee airport when the sole passenger tapped him on the shoulder to say, "I hate to bother you, sir, but the cabin door is missing." After parking the plane, Banks and the co-pilot retrieved the door from the runway, wired it on and resumed the flight, according to Robert J. Serling's book, "Ceiling Unlimited: The Story of North Central Airlines."
Wisconsin Central, with its famous logo of the flying duck on the planes' tails, later merged and became North Central Airlines, then Republic Airlines, which was taken over by Northwest Airlines, itself eventually acquired by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.
Banks flew DC-9 and Boeing 727 jets during his career, and retired in 1982. He had 32,588 flying hours.
His widow, Lucy, who met him when she worked as a flight attendant, said he had an unblemished flying record. "He always said, 'I never hurt anybody or dented any metal,' '' she said.
In 1980, Banks and a partner purchased commercial hardware distributor W.R. Ringheim Co. of St. Louis Park, and he eventually became sole owner until selling the business in 2010. The company once employed up to 10 people, but it later scaled back its business to warehousing and employed about half that, said Larry Hendricks, the company's vice president.
Banks, whose first wife, Ruth, preceded him in death, is survived by their three children, Robert of Apple Valley, Roberta of San Diego and Marcia of Phoenix; stepdaughter Shelley LeTendre of St. John, Virgin Islands; four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
Services were private.
Banks, who was 90 and had resided for many years in Bloomington, died July 12, after an extended hospital stay. In recent years, he and his wife, Lucy, split their residence between St. John, Virgin Islands, and Eden Prairie.
Banks was born and raised in Chicago, attended school there and enlisted in the Navy two months after the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack. After his flight training, he first served as a flight instructor in Texas, then in a divebombing squadron. He later piloted military transport planes in the Admiralty Islands and the Philippines.
In 1948, after leaving the Navy, he took a job with start-up regional airline Wisconsin Central, based in Madison, Wis. Banks was chosen — by drawing straws — as its senior captain, said Matt Ruper, who later served as a pilot for the airline.
Over his long career, Banks witnessed the airline industry's evolution from propellers to jets and the gradual consolidation of small, regional carriers into major U.S. airlines.
Wisconsin Central initially flew twin-propeller, nine-seat Lockheed 10As on routes in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Ruper said. The planes were so small that they had no flight attendants, so the pilot did double duty assisting passengers to their seats.
Some of the planes were less than perfectly maintained. Once, Banks touched down at the Milwaukee airport when the sole passenger tapped him on the shoulder to say, "I hate to bother you, sir, but the cabin door is missing." After parking the plane, Banks and the co-pilot retrieved the door from the runway, wired it on and resumed the flight, according to Robert J. Serling's book, "Ceiling Unlimited: The Story of North Central Airlines."
Wisconsin Central, with its famous logo of the flying duck on the planes' tails, later merged and became North Central Airlines, then Republic Airlines, which was taken over by Northwest Airlines, itself eventually acquired by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.
Banks flew DC-9 and Boeing 727 jets during his career, and retired in 1982. He had 32,588 flying hours.
His widow, Lucy, who met him when she worked as a flight attendant, said he had an unblemished flying record. "He always said, 'I never hurt anybody or dented any metal,' '' she said.
In 1980, Banks and a partner purchased commercial hardware distributor W.R. Ringheim Co. of St. Louis Park, and he eventually became sole owner until selling the business in 2010. The company once employed up to 10 people, but it later scaled back its business to warehousing and employed about half that, said Larry Hendricks, the company's vice president.
Banks, whose first wife, Ruth, preceded him in death, is survived by their three children, Robert of Apple Valley, Roberta of San Diego and Marcia of Phoenix; stepdaughter Shelley LeTendre of St. John, Virgin Islands; four grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
Services were private.
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