April 8, 2020
Written by Linda Goodrick
When Yvonne Banks isn’t wearing her volunteer hat, she’s working in her own business, Art Consulting Services and that volunteer hat fits her very well. She’s served on many Boards using her art background, e.g. Pratt Fine Arts Center, but she also expanded her expertise to serve on the YWCA Board, the Seattle Women’s Commission, the Disciplinary Board of the WA State Bar Assn. and their Board of Governors. She feels that each Board experience taught her different skills from those she’s learned running her businesses. Under her watch, the YWCA dealt with the relocation of many Vietnamese; the Women’s Commission helped abused women and advocated for women’s rights when Title X became the law. Her current interest? the GAGV Foundation Board where she served as President.
While serving on the GAGV Board, Yvonne realized that Grandmothers needed to focus on research of gun safety issues to educate and help people deal with the increasing violence around us. To raise the money necessary for research, GAGV needed the 501-c3 tax free status, hence, the birth of the GAGV Foundation Board. Yvonne and Margy Heldring worked the extra hours, got the legal assistance needed, filed the necessary paperwork and garnered the status on February 4, 2019. Yvonne is an exemplary volunteer who really knows how to s-t-r-e-t-c-h her time and herself to get a job done.
Next the Foundation sponsored a lecture by U.W. Professor, Dr. Ali Rowhani-Rahbar. He has studied violence, its prevention and the complex problems related to the rise of gun violence. He completed 2 research projects in 2019 with graduate student, Erin Morgan that have been published in The Journal of the American Medical Association- Pediatrics; The American Journal of Public Health; Annals of Internal Medicine. Take note: no previous research had been done into this growing problem and safe gun storage by our government at that time. THANK YOU Yvonne and financial supporters of our Grandmothers Against Gun Violence Foundation.
Yvonne graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1958 with a Liberal Arts degree. Not many work opportunities existed but she got her first job at BBDO Advertising Agency in San Francisco. From 1982-1986 she was a partner in the Hodges/Banks Art Gallery. She finds her Art Consulting business more satisfying, there’s not the waiting around for customers to come. A memorable commission of her Consulting business was to design plans for the Washington Mutual Bank’s 42 floors. Overwhelmed might describe her reaction, but not intimidated. She stretched her creativity and ability with the help of her co-workers and got the job done. She met her husband Walter, a navy pilot at the time, through a mutual friend who was also a navy pilot. They’ve raised twin sons and now have 2 grandsons, aged 17 and 19 living in San Francisco.
When Yvonne isn’t working or wearing one of her volunteer hats, she might be found at the Fresh Flour bakery devouring their almond croissants, her guilty pleasure. She’s had many favorite books during her life and commented that the time has to be right to read some of them. She enjoyed Pierre Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” when younger so gave it to her grandson, but he didn’t. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” opened her eyes and she always enjoys reading James Baldwin and James Michener novels. The people she admires are those who swim against the tide at their own peril, like Ralph Nader, Gloria Steinem, Jonas Salk, Ruth Bader Ginsberg or just recently Mitt Romney, after the Impeachment hearings. She wishes she had more patience, but do we? This Wonder Woman gets things done! Keep stretching, Yvonne you’re making a difference in our gun safety laws.