Dale was a special Bankston cousin. Like his father, Jesse, and my mother, Theresa,  Dale and I were born three years apart.  That circumstance accounted for our mutual involvement in Bankston family activities such as Cousins Camp during childhood and Bankston corporate activity years later.  In December 2015, I published a family memoir with origins dating back to a period of encouragement from Uncle Jesse's enthusiastic participation in LSU Lagniappe Studies "Life Writing" some six years earlier. At the time, Uncle Jesse was 96, and I was 69. When "The Quilt House" was complete, I mailed copies to then-living Bankston first cousins.

Within just a few days of the mailing, Dale wrote to thank me for his copy of the memoir, and to add his sense of gratitude to mine, for the heritage we shared, including our parents' values such as high regard for education and a strong sense of responsibility for family well-being and caring cohesiveness across generations.

As age overtook Uncle Jesse's physical strength and stamina, Dale stepped up,  along with brothers Larry and Jesse, Jr., and sister Shirley, to keep our Bankston patriarch involved in larger family interests and activities, particularly those related to our Bankston corporation and farm. Dale assumed many of his father's responsibilities and devoted countless hours to Bankston Enterprises matters over a number of years.

When my only sibling, brother Major General Cecil William Powell, died in 2011, Dale wrote to express admiration for his older cousin, and to lighten my mood by recounting how cousins  "Billy" and Albert had been instrumental in "teaching" him to swim. He explained that during summer camp sessions at Grandpa's Big Silver  Creek, the elder, bigger cousins repeatedly threw him into water deep enough to convince Dale that swimming was a life skill his life depended on.  He became a quick study - and a good swimmer.

I loved and will miss Dale, his correspondence, and his family role.

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Dale L. Bankston

December 23, 1942 – September 13, 2026

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