Emma Lee Bankhead

Emma Lee Bankhead was born April 14, 1933 to Jenny and Ed Melton. She died on October 17, 2019. She was the next to the youngest of six children. Her family lived in Shamrock, Oklahoma where Emma attended grade school and high school. She worked briefly as a telephone operator in Drumright, Oklahoma, before entering X-Ray technology school in Tulsa, Oklahoma after high school graduation. She began employment with St. John Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She worked as an X-ray technologist starting in 1962 and worked there until her marriage in February of 1964. Emma has always had an interest in politics. She served as a representative of the local Republican party membership. She took a class in cooking while living in Denver, Colorado shortly after marriage. She attended four colleges taking two to three hours a semester while working full time at Muskogee Bone and Joint Clinic. It took her thirteen years to get her bachelor’s degree from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where she graduated Summa Cum Lade. She met all the teaching requirements to teach 5th grade and taught briefly. She was also a 5th grade home room teacher and on occasion a substitute teacher. Emma learned to appreciate and love art and art paintings. She produced many of her own beautiful oil paintings on canvas. She took several religious college courses on a part time basis. She was a Director of one of the children’s departments at the First Baptist Church in Muskogee for several years. She learned to line dance and enjoyed it for many years. She planted and cared for flowers and other plants in her family garden in Muskogee. She is survived by her loving and faithful husband of 55 years, James Bankhead. Her only child, Roy W. Bankhead, M.D. and wife Amy and grandson’s William and Christopher Bankhead all of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Nieces and nephew, Alice Lee Williams of Grand Prairie, Texas, Norma Talbott of Odessa, Texas, Linda Simon of Yale, Oklahoma, and Jan and Gary Griffin of Springdale, Arkansas. The main loves of Emma’s life were her husband, son and grandsons. She was a God loving woman that will be dearly missed by her family. Services will be held in Muskogee, Oklahoma on Saturday, October 19th, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. with a graveside service at Green Hill Cemetery, 1500 North York Street, Muskogee, Oklahoma 74403. 918-684-6215.

Emma Lee Bankhead

April 14, 1933 - October 17, 2019