UPPER MARLBORO, MD- Cleopatra M. Banks, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, departed this life on January 9, 2019. Cleopatra Banks was born on November 5, 1920 in Newport News, Virginia, where she lived most of her life. She graduated from Huntington High School in 1938, and she graduated from Hampton Institute in 1942. She married her high school sweetheart, the late Lee R. Banks, on February 29, 1944. To this union was born a son, Andrei, fraternal twins, Annette and Jeffrey, and a daughter, Bonnie. In 1963, she started teaching 5th grade at Carver Elementary School. In 1975, she was transferred to Sedgefield Elementary and worked there until she retired in 1985.
After she retired from the school system, her church, Greater Emmanuel Church of God in Christ, became an agency of the Newport News Food Bank and she became the "Bread Lady." She loaded her pick-up truck, with every kind of food you could think of- from bread and eggs, to potatoes and turkeys-and made distributions to the homeless, to the homebound and the elderly and to needy families around Newport News.

Cleo was preceded in death by her son, Jeffrey Banks (Linda). She will be sadly missed with fondest memories by her son, Andrei Banks (Robin) of Washington, DC; daughters, Annette Banks Moseley (Edward) of Silver Spring, MD and Bonnie Wilkins (Greg) of Upper Marlboro, MD; three grandchildren, twelve great-grands and and six great great grandchildren, a host of nieces and nephews. She is also survived by a brother, Arthur White of Newport News, Virginia; a sister, Ruth Taliaferro of Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Church of God in Christ daughter, Rosa Thomas-Boone of Suffok, Virginia. Cleo will remain in all our hearts and thoughts forever.

Viewing will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday at O. H. Smith & Son Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, January 19, 2019 at Emmanuel Church of God in Christ, 704 Celey Street, Hampton. Interment will follow in Hampton Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that monetary donations be made to Greater Emmanuel COGIC. O. H. Smith & Son Funeral Home is honored to serve the family.