On August 6, 1932, Roy Everett Banks and Nancy Marie Morris Banks were blessed with an angel from heaven. The name they gave her was Ella Louise.
Ella Louise was born in Wellington, KS. She grew up with her two brothers northwest of town until she was about the age of 7. From there they moved into the town of Wellington and lived on the southeast side. At around the age of 14 her family moved to Harper. There she met Eugene W. Jacobs, and at a very young age they married on March 21, 1947. At the end of that same year in December their first child was born, who they named Nancy. Over the course of the next 17 years Gene and Ella Louise were blessed with nine more children. That’s right, folks, count them. That’s ten now, and mom had gotten her team together. Yes, a team, as her children were all taught what it was to work as a team and to help each other. In all this time Ella Louise was raising her family. One of her greatest loves after having grandkids was going to their activities. She was also gardening, Girl Scouting, sewing her children’s clothes, raising chickens and turkeys, plus taking care of other people who weren’t family because they had no family. Our mom did many, many things. One of them at this time in her life was sometimes delivering freight when her husband, Gene, could not. She would throw some of us into the cab with her and go around town to make the deliveries.
In 1965, after she got all of her chicks in the house, she went to work at the Copper Lounge. Our mother had a love of people. She just liked being around them. Our mom had 10 kids that called her mom, but after working for 52+ years at the Copper Lounge, she had thousands of kids that called her mom or grandma. A bartender plays many roles in their life. During all of this she is still raising her family and attending all of the other activities she had going on.
In the early 70s she had gotten enough of her chickens out of the house and had a little more free time. Ella Louise took up league bowling and a love for state and national tournaments. Ella Louise went to women’s national bowling tournaments for 34 years.
After retiring and some hard-fought battles with health issues, we lost our mother on Friday, September 24, 2021, surrounded by family in her home.
She is preceded in death by her brothers Everett Leroy and Andrew Morris Banks, her mother and father, Roy Everett and Nancy Banks, and husband Eugene W. Jacobs.
She is survived by Nancy (Dr. Douglas) Blackman, Wichita, KS; Nicholas (Jeri) Jacobs, Harper, KS; Roy (Elaine) Jacobs, Harper, KS; Richard (Eilene) Jacobs, Harper, KS; Carol (Raymond) Kenney, Shawnee, KS; Cindy (Stuart) Smith, Towanda, KS; Lynn (Chuck) VeDepo, Hayden, CO; Lola Jacobs (Harold), Andover, KS; Michael (Bradley) Jacobs, Kansas City, MO; Michelle (Chris) Mandrino, Edmond, OK; 22 grandkids, 39 great grandkids + one on the way and 9 great, great grandkids.
Graveside services will be held at 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, September, 29, 2021 at the Harper City Cemetery in Harper, Kansas.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Harper United Methodist Church, Cross Point Church in Harper, KS, Wichita Animal Shelter or to Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice and sent in care of the mortuary.
