Evelyn Waller Banda

Evelyn Waller Banda, a strong and steadfast representative of the Greatest Generation, passed from this life into the life of perfect service in God’s heavenly kingdom on November 24, 2019. She was born on the 28th of June 1924 a fifth-generation Texan and a direct descendant of one of East Texas original pioneer families.
Evelyn, the ninth child out of thirteen, grew up in Crim’s Chapel rural school and graduated from Henderson High School. She married Eliseo Banda in 1944 after he returned from service in the Marine Corp.
She was a lifelong member of the Baptist Church, Kilgore, Texas and especially active as a member of the First Baptist Church of Kilgore, Texas. She was an active member of the Evergreen Garden Club, Past Regent of the Samuel Paul Dinkins Chapter Daughter of the American Revolution, The New England Colony of Colonial Dames XVII Century, The Barton Historical Society and Daughters of the Republic of Texas. In 2009, Evelyn and Peggy Barton co-authored and completed a Genealogy Report titled “The Barton Migration to Texas”
She enjoyed cooking, gardening, quilting, sewing, china painting, and genealogy. She owned The Ceramic Shop in Kilgore where for 10 years she taught summer classes to the Kilgore Summer Youth Program. Through the years, Evelyn was employed at Southern Bell Telephone, Tailmobile, Cashon’s Dental Clinic, General Electric, and Trane. Evelyn’s passion was her family, who fondly remember her as their historian, matriarch and admired her honest ability to tell the truth in love.
Evelyn was preceded in death by her parents, Ronda and Eunice Waller, her husband Eliseo Banda, her brothers, Roy Lee, Sydney, Jake, Marion, Willis, Crawford, Arnold, Rayford, and Laverne Waller; her sisters, Stella Mae Waller, Irene Watson, and Elsie Bradley.
She survived by her loving children: Elizabeth Lockhart and husband Jim, Leon Banda and wife Missie. She is also survived by her granddaughters Alicia Lockhart, Brandi Russel (her husband Matt) and grandson Blake Banda (his wife Britni) and great-grandsons Archer Powell and Houston Russell, and a host of nieces and nephews.
For those who desire to send a remembrance, memorial donations may be made to Kilgore First Baptist Church, 501 E. Street, Kilgore, Texas or Crim’s Chapel Cemetery Fund, P.O. Box 1542, Henderson, Texas 75653.
The family wants to give a special thank you to the kind caregivers, Marie Garrett, Nadine Pittman, and Evelyn’s close friend Mary Ann Jackson and Heartsway Hospice of Northeast Texas.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, November 27, 2019, at 2:00 P.M. in the Rader Funeral Home Chapel in Kilgore with Dr. Pete Freeman and Dr. Glen Young officiating. Burial will follow at the Crim’s Chapel Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Rader Funeral Home on Wednesday from 1:00 P.M. until 2:00 P.M.