Mary Norie Banks, 96, a longtime Moscow resident, died Saturday, June 23, at Latah Health Services.
She was born Dec. 30, 1904 in Emporium, Pa., to James and Martha Kaye Norie. Soon after, the family moved to western Washington, where they lived in several small lumber towns before moving to Seattle. There she graduated from Broadway High School and from the University of Washington magna cum laude, with B.A. and M.A. degrees in English.
She taught for one year each at Olympia High School and the University of Washington. In June of 1928, she married William Carr Banks (also a graduate of UW), an instructor of English at the University of Idaho. They spent the 1928-29 school year in Moscow, where Mary also was an instructor at the UI. They spent a year in England, 1929-30, returning to Moscow during the Depression. With the exception of two years in the late '30s, they resided in Moscow the rest of their lives.
Mary had trained in Seattle as a concert pianist. During her life, she gave three solo piano recitals. During the years she was raising her family, she taught piano to a generation of Moscow youth, 1940-1956. She wrote and published many piano compositions for children. She continued to take music courses at the UI and in 1951 earned a Bachelor of Music degree. For one year, '56-57, Mary taught 6th grade at Lena Whitmore Elementary School. She then accepted a teaching position at WSU, where she taught freshman composition and literature courses for 10 years, '57-67. In her 60s, Mary renewed a lifetime interest in photography and, in the following two decades, she exhibited and sold photographs of the Palouse, Nez Perce and European people and scenes. She was honored by her alma mater by a photo exhibit of her work at the UW's Suzzallo Library.
After the death of her husband in 1975, Mary edited and published a book of his letters, "Kites in the Empyrean," a book of her own European letters, "From England With Love," and more recently four books of her own semi-autobiographical short stories. In the fall of 2000, she was honored by the mayor of Moscow and the Moscow Arts Commission with a Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award.
During her lifetime, Mary was active in AAUW, Fine Arts Club, PEO, Tri-Delta sorority, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Alpha Iota, the Unitarian Church and numerous writing and reading groups. She was a contributor to many humanitarian and liberal political causes. She also was a two-time cancer survivor.
She was preceded in death by her husband; a brother, James Norie; a sister-in-law, Esther Norie Brockelbank; and a niece. She is survived by three children, David Banks and wife, Jeane, of Redmond, Wash., Susan Womeldorff and husband, Dave, of Bellevue, Wash., and Molly Banks of Moscow; a niece, Joan Norie Bent of Salem, Ore.; six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse on Saturday, July 7, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to "Banks Awards" scholarship, c/o English Department at the UI.
The family wishes to thank the nursing staff of the Latah Health Services for their loving care in the last four months, and Hospice of the Palouse.
