Long-time teacher ?Mr. B? dies at 91

A retired teacher who taught for 32 years at the Washington High School has died. Russ Bannister, 91, died Wednesday at Halcyon House in Washington. Bannister taught social studies from the time of his arrival in Washington in 1950 until he retired from teaching in 1982. He was also the boys? golf coach for many years during his teaching career.

His funeral is Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the United Presbyterian Church in Washington. The visitation is Monday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Jones-Eden Funeral Home in Washington. A memorial service will also be held at Halcyon House Monday at 2 p.m.

Bannister?s daughter, Bonnie, said her dad was an outgoing person who she often referred to as ?my gregarious father.?

?We had a wonderful father-daughter relationship,? she said. ?The thing I?ll miss the most is being able to talk to him about virtually anything.?

Bannister?s friends and co-workers remember him as a courteous and erudite man. Peter Weller taught social studies alongside Bannister and said that ?Mr. B? was universally admired.     

?He had a very good rapport with the students,? Weller said. ?I do not recall any student or faculty member who didn?t like him. His stature in the community was such that if he made a suggestion, it was acted upon.?

Weller began teaching at Washington High School in 1964. Bannister was the head of the social studies department at the school and served as Weller?s mentor through the early years of Weller?s teaching. Weller said the two of them bonded instantly in part because they both hailed from Chicago.

?He taught me an awful lot of things ? the practical things that your education courses and your university experience might not always provide,? Weller said.

Bannister and Weller taught the same material to different classes at the high school. Weller recalled that Bannister was at times dissatisfied with the American government textbook because it did not properly teach career planning. Bannister sought to remedy this by finding articles in magazines, booklets and pamphlets, retyping them, and then making 100 copies of the script on a duplicating machine to hand out in class.

?This was in the days before Xerox machines,? Weller said. ?He devoted hours and hours to the job outside of the classroom. He was on the cutting edge.?

Another man who was mentored by Bannister was Don Lawless. Lawless began teaching at the junior high in 1959 and then at the high school in 1961. He said Bannister helped him plan lessons and that Bannister had a creative way of presenting material to the students.

?He was respected by the students,? Lawless said. ?He was very helpful and very knowledgeable about social studies in particular. He was also a very mild-mannered man.?

Lawless assumed the role of boys? golf coach from Bannister in 1982 and continued to coach the team until his retirement in 2000. He said the two of them often played golf together in their free time.

?He wasn?t long off the tee but he was always down the middle,? Lawless said.

Tom English worked with Bannister at the high school and was also one of Bannister?s golfing buddies.

?One morning, he shot a 2-under 33 at the course in town,? English said. ?He was really putting them in that day. His golf game was very consistent. He was a good chipper and a good putter.?

English said that Bannister took pictures of the homecoming parade which he would then show years later at class reunions.

Gary Collins was a co-worker of Bannister?s at the high school. Collins said Bannister was ?always the gentleman.?

?He was very concerned about the kids,? Collins said. ?That was evident when you met him. That was who he was.?

When Bannister retired in 1982, Chuck Henry took his place. Henry said that Bannister would often substitute teach in the 1980s and 1990s. He said Bannister shared stories about his experience as a weather spotter in Italy during World War II.

?Russ was an excellent resource,? Henry said. ?He did an awful lot for the community. He was an upstanding citizen.?