The memorial celebration for Helen L. “Pudge” Banks, 77, will be held on Friday, November 30th at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church Memorial Chapel Lawton, OK with Pastor Bill Cox, officiating
     Mrs. Banks passed way in Bartlett, TN on Sunday, November 4th, 2007.
     Arrangements are under the direction of Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home.
     She was born on August 1, 1930 in Fort Sill, OK to Col. Joseph C. and Bertha F. McCain. She grew up in Lawton and graduated from Lawton High School in 1948. Pudge was involved in the Lawton community which included many hours of volunteerism in the Miss Lawton pageant, Beta Sigma Phi, the Lawton/Fort Sill Arts Council, and the Southwest Oklahoma Opera Guild. She graduated from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in 1968. To all who knew her she was a woman of strength, elegance, and grace and will be greatly missed.
She is survived by her two daughters and sons in law, Shannon and Bill Cox of Brighton, TN and Theres and John Stiefer of Fayetteville, AR; six grandchildren: B.J. Cox, Machia Cox, Jarrod Cox, Richard Cox, Hadassah Cox, Mahdisen Stiefer; and by her Aunt, Maurine Canepa of Aiken, SC.
     She was preceded in death by her husbands, son, parents, two brothers, and a sister.
Memorials may be made to The American Lung Association, 61 Broadway, New York, NY 10006.