William Perry Banner
July 30, 1924 ~ August 14, 2006
Resided in:
Asheville, NC
William Perry Banner, 82, of 24 Pinewood Place, Asheville, passed away Monday, August 14 after a long illness.
He was born on July 30, 1924, in Falls Mills, Virginia to George Thomas Banner, an engineer with the Norfolk and Western Railroad and Reba Maude Lafon.
The third of four children, early in his life Bill became fascinated with storytelling, radio, and photography. At the age of fourteen he was broadcasting from a homemade radio station in his backyard and making home movies that still survive, while attending The Art Studio, a private high school in Bluefield, West Virginia where he worked at radio station WHIS whose studios were next door. After graduating in 1939, he attended radio and television school in New York City where he lived with his sister Ruth.
After receiving his degree in 1941, he was employed at Camp Croft in Spartanburg, SC to do radio programming for the Armed Forces Radio. Returning to his home region, he again worked as an announcer at WHIS and for the Tennessee Radio Network in Bristol where he worked with Ernie Ford and Jack Webb at WOPI. It was in Bristol that he met his wife, Evangeline Louise Miller, a singer on one of the live radio programs popular at the time. They were married on March 20, 1943.
Bill’s work next took them to Spartanburg, SC where he attended Wofford College and became a well known radio personality on WSPA.
In 1952, he made the leap to television, turning his longtime hobby of photography into his livelihood by first becoming film director at WGVL in Greenville, SC and three years later moving to WLOS-TV in Asheville where he worked as director of photography, writing and producing commercials and film and video programs until retiring in 1999.
Through the years, he enjoyed writing articles for professional journals as well as short stories for popular magazines, and pursuing his hobbies of genealogical research and collecting artifacts of the history of recording and broadcasting, building a reputation for his museum quality collection of phonograph records, radio programs, films, and broadcasting equipment. He will be well known as a radio and television pioneer.
He is survived by two children, Laura Leslie Banner of Chapel Hill, NC and Gregory LaFon Banner of Arden, NC; grandchildren, Stephanie Louise Dawson of Greenville, NC, Alexia Leigh Banner Owenby of Fletcher, NC, Wesley Greg Banner of 24 Pinewood Place, Asheville, and Gregory Reynolds of Fletcher, NC; one great-grandchild, Kayla Louise Owenby of Fletcher; and a brother, Frank Banner of Bluefield, VA.
A graveside service will be held 10:00 a.m. Friday at Riverside Cemetery with Rev. Dwight Whitlock officiating.
His family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday at Groce Funeral Home on Patton Avenue.
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Dear Pa,
I still find myself missing you and Yang everday. I will want to share something with you, then quickly realize that you are in heaven now. Thank you for helping to make me the person I am today. I miss having lunch with you and listening to you order ‘burned’ bread. Pa, you always told me that you were going to live to be 100 years old,and I believed you. I still find it hard to go to your house and not see you in the basement playing your records. I love you and miss you so much. I am looking forward to seeing you in heaven. Thank you for refering to me as your ‘beloved’ Leigh.
What a rare jewel! You will be sorely missed, Bill. I’ll never forget us all getting together just to listen to you share your life experiences with us. The pain is no more, my friend. One day we’ll see you on the other side.
I want my dear cousin to know I am thinking of all of you. my memories of Bill are happy ones. I can hear his laugh and see that glorious mouth of teeth. I was sure he would live to be 100; I guess they needed him in ‘PaDooHeaven’ to make the possum gravy. Love to you all- Connie Boyd
Bill, you were more alive than anyone I’ve ever known. You filled us all with energy and made us laugh to tears with your wit and vibrant stories. My memories of you are vivid, and you will live as long as they fill our minds. I miss you, old pal. Wherever you are, please save a seat for me beside you.
Bill Banner,
I will always cherish our times together listening to you telling me all about the history of radio and TV while I worked on the wire recorders, ancient radios, and sound equipment that you loved so.
I always looked up to you, and LOVED it when I could contribute something to the museum.
Your passing has left a deep hole in my memory. I knew you for only 19 years, but the knowledge I got from you could last me a lifetime!
Good-bye, PA!
Bruce
My thoughts and prayers are with Bill’s family. I worked Bill in the mid 70’s at wlos. He was such a wonderful person. He made work so much fun! My aunt Lois, married Jack Miller, in 1971 and this made us family’. I will always remember how much he love his family and lived life to the fullest.
Sincerely Joyce Luther-Ball (Joyce Brow when I worked at wlos)
Working with Bill during the 70’s and into the 90’s were always a pleasure. I was just beginning my career in media and Bill was a good friend with worlds of wisdom, anxious to assist my business and my clients. Many hours were spent creating the best commercials at WLOS but we always made time to talk about our families. I loved the stories he shared, especially about his grandchildren. I smile now because I can hear Pa’s kind voice ‘storytelling’. He was a jewel. Just wanted his family to know his close friends admired and loved him and will cherish many precious memories.
What a great loss !! Bill was a wonderful man. Always had a kind word and always a smile on his face. Worked with him for several years and it truly was a great pleasure.
I was so sorry to hear about your Dad, please accept my sincere condolences and may God bless you and your family during this time of great sorrow.
Jerry & Carol Hagan
I will always cherish my time spent with Bill Banner. I will remember him not only as a most knowledgeable practioner and pioneer of radio, television, and motion pictures and a primary source of their history, but more importantly as a funny good guy to hang out with and have a few laughs!
God rest Banner’s soul and may His Grace be with his family and friends. David Henson
Sorry to hear of Bill’s passing. I had the priviledge of working with Bill when I worked at W.L.O.S. TV station and I did a tv commerical for him which we wrote together. I always remember his laughter and his fun ways. He was a gentle man as well as being a perfect gentleman. He was constantly on the run but always had time to stop and talk with you and to say hi. His kind will never be this way again and he will be sadly missed by all that knew him. My sympathy goes out to his family. But just know he was loved by many. May God see you thorough this sad time. My prayers are with you.
Sincerely,
Peggy Guest-Totherow
As I signed the the book at Groce (since I am not able to attend the funeral service) I remembered so well the great times Bill and I had together.
We had so much in common… often working together in producing some TV commercials.
We would often talk about the vintage equipment… much of which Bill had preserved. Bill and I had both worked at WOPI in Bristol (at different times)
Memories are wonderful.
Bill will live in my memory.
Monty Du Puy Greenville, SC
I have fond memories of working with Bill at WLOS-TV.He was a fine Gentleman.
Vern
Leslie & Greg and families. We were so sorry to hear of Bill’s passing, and wanted you to know that you are in our thoughts during this difficult time. We always admired Bill, he was such a brilliant and talented man. We have fond memories of him and Louise and their visits to ‘Miller Hill’ for family gatherings.
This is a poem by Tom Clancy that is one of our favorites and is goes like this: And if I go, while you’re still here…know that I live on, vibrating to a different measure…behind a veil you cannot see through. You will not see me, so you must have faith, I wait for the time when we can soar together again…both aware of each other. Until then, live your life to the fullest and when you need me, just whisper my name in your heart .. I will be there. Tom Clancy
Our love and deepest sympathy. Joyce and Robert Payne.
What wonderful memories I have of Mr. Banner working with us neighborhood kids and friends of Leslie’s making movies during the summer. Leslie and Greg, I am so sorry for your loss. He was a great guy. John Becton, Tom Parker and I talked about him last summer at the reunion about what a great time we all had. Very fond memories of a great guy.
Leigh and Wesley – we are so sad to hear of your Grandfather’s death. You are in our thoughts and prayers. After reading Mr. Banner’s Obituary – and knowing him a bit, I see his influnce on you both. We love you! Kayla – your Great Grandfather loved you and so do we!
I worked with Bill in 1989 – 1991 while working in traffic at WLOS-TV.
Bill learned that I had a background in production in NYC and made it possible for me to work with him in production as well. He was my North Carolina mentor. He gave of his time and knowledge. It is definately the end of an era. They do not make gentlemen like him anymore. Love you Pa!!!!
May God be with the family today and always. Donna Do
Deepest sympathy to the family of Bill Banner–what a wonderful man to work with and to know–such a positive outlook on life–I worked with him at WLOS for 7 years and really enjoyed working with him.
I enjoy many great memories of my uncle, Bill Banner. We spent time in the 1970s listening to his old radio programs and big band music, played on oversized 1940s radio DJ turntables. I helped him make radio commercials for Pisgah Farm Sausage by playing the sound effects on cue. Uncle Bill, my cousin Leslie, and myself once made our own radio program with each of us playing characters seemingly out of the 1930s. I don’t remember all the plot details, but do recall something about ‘a pig in a poke’, and the O’Henry Ave Telephone Company building, where I worked at the time.
Bill Banner was a really good man who will be missed by everyone who ever knew him. Rest in Peace Uncle Bill. I will always remember you with fondness.