Vestal Cleo Banks Titsworth Thompson's Obituary
Vestal Cleo Banks Titsworth Thompson was born in Manchester, Tennessee on April 21, 1923. She was the youngest of 6 daughters, the baby sister to 3 brothers and big sister to another. The Banks family had lived in Tennessee for generations but when she was 6 months old her father, John Thomas Banks, moved the family to Texas where her mother, Jenny Pirtle Banks, was from. On the first cold day in the fall of 1927 they lit a fire in their home. The chimney was defective and the place burned to the ground. Vestal ran back into the burning house to retrieve a doll so her father was obliged to run back in to retrieve her. Her brother, Billy Wayne Banks (later a Vice President of Halliburton Oil) was born in the farm’s smoke house the next January. It seems she was a very ‘active’ child. Howard Thompson, (her back door neighbor in Grayson County who later became her second husband) delighted in telling how she taunted and teased his friend and her closest brother, Layton, with the impunity afforded by her father and the fact that she could out run her brother. While she was a child two events occurred which profoundly affected her. One was her father losing the farm to the bank and her mother crying all the way to their new home in Dallas. The other was her beginning to take care of others. Her “first baby” was her nephew, Kenneth Bowlin. She sort of adopted him when his mother (Vestal’s sister, Sally) had to go to work. This event initiated her lifelong efforts to help others. In Dallas the family lived on Anson Road, at least until Harry Hines Boulevard was cut through. She began driving when she was 15 years old (so she could help her brother on his paper route). During the next 73 years she drove a lot of miles without ever having an accident. She did get two speeding tickets, but she insisted the second one (on Winton) was a “set up.” She finished her education with outstanding scholarship at Dallas Technical High School in June 1940. In January 1941 she married Harvey Titsworth, the boy next door. On December 7, 1941, her brother, Layton Thomas Banks, was lost with the Battleship Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. Thirty days later her first son, William (Bill) Layton Titsworth, was born. Three Februaries later his brother, David Frederick Titsworth was born. While Harvey was away for the last part of WWII she managed keeping her home in tact and her boys fed with the $100.00 per month allowance from the government. Just before Harvey was discharged from the Army she begged her way into a temporary typing position with the Treasury Department. In 1959 she retired from Federal employment with sustained superior performance awards from each of the three agencies where she had worked, Treasury Department, Wage Stabilization Board, and the Census Bureau. In her spare time during the same period she managed to help Harvey establish Titsworth Shoe Repair in Wynnewood Village and to relocate their family from 1116 S. Brighton to 2817 Canberra to the home of her dreams at 606 Bizerte. She spent 1959 running “Vestal’s,” a dress shop across the driveways from Harvey’s shoe repair shop. Most of her activities during the 1960’s revolved around her boys. With more than a little support from her husband, she managed to get them through high school, college, their military commitments and the beginnings of their careers. The 1970’s were devoted to her husband. Harvey’s health began to fail in 1972. It is a testimony to her strength, energy and resourcefulness that she managed to maintain his business and attend his health needs for as long as she did. Also during this period she and Harvey were blessed with their four grandchildren, Mike in 1969, Wendy in 1972, Brian in 1974 and Craig in 1978. After Harvey passed in 1981 she began the rest of her life. She resumed her federal employment with the Office Of Personnel Management and before her retirement in 1988 had earned her 4th sustained superior performance award. Just after her retirement her sister, Sally, visited and they went back to Grayson County to visit old friends. There she saw Howard Thompson again. They married a few weeks later. She spent most of the last of the century enjoying life with him. They travelled throughout the country and later moved from Whitesboro to Van Alstyne and the new house he bought for her. However, she didn’t stop helping other people. During this period she started using coupons and buying consumables that were on sale and putting them into what became known as “Nana Bags.” These were distributed not just to the family, but to food banks, the people who did work on her home and anybody she came into contact with that she thought she might help. When she moved back to Dallas after Howard died in 2001, she took up her “Nana Bag” occupation with a vengeance. She became known to the personnel of every grocery and drug store on Mockingbird between Williamson and Central Expressway as “the coupon lady.” Myrtle at Kroger’s and Thelma at CVS became her daily companions and friends. The “Nana Bags” not only benefited her family but people as far removed as her grandchildren’s co-workers. She took great pride in her shopping skills. One day she came out of Kroger’s with about $50.00 worth of merchandise and a little more cash than she went in with. Vestal passed away on Sunday, November 9, 2014. But, if it is true you are not really gone until the last person who loves you and thinks about you is gone, she’ll be with us for quite some time to come. She is survived by Bill and Minnie Titsworth of Dallas; David and Sharon Titsworth of Dallas; Mike and Rachel Titsworth and their children, Anika and Kaison of Austin; Wendy and Ben Reed and their son, Quentin of Austin; Brian and Melanie Titsworth and their children, Katelyn, Ashleigh and David Kent of Rowlett; and Craig and Tara Titsworth and their children, Molly and Layton of Dallas. Vestal’s family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 PM on Thursday, November 13, 2014 at Restland Funeral Home. Funeral Service for Vestal Thompson will take place at 10:00 AM on Friday, November 14, 2014 at The Wildwood Chapel at Restland Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, at Restland Road, Dallas, TX 75238.
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