Mercedes Russow Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Mercedes Banks Russow was born to Russell Elijah Banks and Pauline Troyer Banks on October 5, 1919, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mercedes moved on to be with her Lord and Savior on July 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the age of 102. Mercedes’ first memory while growing up in New Palestine, Indiana was going with her mother to see the opera singer Galli-Curci at the age of 3, and afterwards singing the beginning of the aria but ending the song by singing the alphabet. She often performed with her family as a quartet: her father played clarinet, her mother played piano, her older sister, Mignon, played cello, and Mercedes played violin. When Mercedes was 14 years old, she heard on the radio that the infamous gangster John Dillinger had escaped from the Crown Point Jail in Indiana by using a wooden gun he had carved himself. Mercedes was standing on the top of a hill on her family’s property and playing “army” with her real rifle (while hunting), when John Dillinger pulled up in his car, parked and stood there watching her for a while, probably wondering how he could get a real gun from that kid on the hill. They stared each other down until he got back in his car and drove away. Mercedes was always pretty fearless. When Mercedes was 16 or 17, she wrote her first composition, a Rondo, after she was pushed out of her chair while alone in her house and felt inspired to write it. It was the first of many compositions to come. After graduating from high school, Mercedes attended the Jordan Conservatory of Music in Indiana, focusing on violin. Beginning in 1941, she worked as a journalist for the conservatory. She was a persistent journalist, and even interviewed the world-famous violinist, Jasha Heifetz at his hotel room. He asked her which paper she was writing for, and she answered that she didn’t even want the interview for a paper, she just loved music so much. Heifetz was impressed with her and told her she could be one of three things: a journalist, a singer, or a composer. She turned out to be all three. Later, while she was singing at a club, Jasha Heifetz recognized her and invited her to sit at his table, where he was sitting with Fabian Sevitsky, the music director for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Mercedes continued singing with a band at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis, and one day while performing in the summer of 1942, she caught the eye of Sergeant Carlton Haynes Russow, who was stationed there at Camp Atterbury. Six months later, on January 15, 1943, Mercedes and Carl were married at the United Methodist church in Indianapolis. They lived in Indianapolis for about a year, during which time, Mercedes often sang for the U.S. troops who were going off to fight in WWII. In 1944, Carl was briefly stationed in Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. They moved to an apartment in a beautiful colonial home, which Mercedes loved (she always wanted a southern colonial home of her own after that). While in Kentucky, Mercedes worked at Morganfield Hospital as a stenographer taking notes in the operating room. She worked with and became friends with General Patton’s wife, Beatrice, who worked as a nurse there. On April 6, 1944, Mercedes’ husband Carl went overseas and did statistics for the military and worked with General Patton, who frequently asked about Mercedes by name. At one point, General Patton and Carl talked about their wives coming over together if the U.S. needed to stay to occupy freed Germany for a while. While apart for the War, Carl wrote love letters to Mercedes every single day, which she kept and treasured. In 1946, Carl and Mercedes moved to Buffalo, New York, and there they started their family in 1947. They had 3 daughters: Tammy (who married Bob Yekich and had 2 children, Steven, and Tricia), Narda (who married Larry Cornwall and had 3 children, Jason, Melissa, and Amber), and Carla (who married David Borgersen and had 7 children, Phaedra, Shannon, Daniel, Merrilee, Christine, Bryce, and Brent). While in Buffalo, Mercedes worked as a journalist for the Buffalo Evening News. She taught at the Hamburg Junior High School for one year. She also played the violin in the Orchard Park Symphony for 9 years. There, she composed and conducted “The Quaker Town March” in honor of our police officers and firefighters. During this time, she was also a guest solo vocalist with the Buffalo Philharmonic. In 1958, Mercedes participated in and won the contest for Mrs. New York State, then went on to the finals in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the Mrs. America pageant. There, Mercedes won all of the contests, except for the table setting contest. During an interview, when asked which magazines she loved to read, while everyone else responded with Good Homes and Gardens or Housekeeping, she said she loved to read Forbes and other business magazines. This was frowned upon at the time, so she lost first place to Mrs. Ohio, who was amazing at setting the table, apparently. Mercedes was the first runner up in the Mrs. America Pageant that year. In the early 1960s, her mother, Pauline Banks, wrote her phonics book ‘Direct Approach to Reading and Spelling’. Mercedes helped fund the publishing of it with some of her winnings as Mrs. New York State. Mercedes would continue to teach Direct Approach phonics to many students, adults, and children alike, for well over 30 years. Mercedes went back to college at Fredonia University in Fredonia, New York. She graduated with her Bachelor of Music in 1970, the same year that her youngest daughter graduated from high school. Her graduate performance included a sonata for violin and piano by Mozart, a 2nd movement violin concerto by Wieniawski, and Prophet Bird by Schumann, transcribed by Jasha Heifetz. In 1972, Mercedes and Carl moved back to New Palestine, Indiana to help care for her aging mother. There, Mercedes often taught Direct Approach phonics in the one-room schoolhouse on the property of her childhood home, Banks Haven. She also worked for Blue Cross/Blue Shield as a secretary, and even composed a song for the company. Through the years, she enjoyed composing songs for children and adults alike. She wrote a song, “Laird o’ Foster Hall” for JK Lilly’s birthday (of Lilly Pharmaceuticals). That copy is still in the Foster Memorial. She wrote songs that her grandchildren often begged her to play for them, including the songs ‘What Is That Thing Down There?’, ‘The Carousel Song’, and the music to poems ‘Wynken, Blynken and Nod’ and ‘The Green-Eyed Dragon’. In 1990, her mother Pauline died, and 2 years later, Carl died, leaving Mercedes to take care of Banks Haven (with its 40 acres) on her own. She continued teaching in the one-room schoolhouse and in 1999, she also started playing at a restaurant called Carnegie’s in Greenfield, Indiana. In 2002, after having lived as a widow for 11 years by herself in New Palestine, she moved back to Hamburg, New York, where she had an apartment near her two daughters, Tammy and Narda and their families. There, she joined a retired doctors’ group who all played piano. She moved to Oklahoma with youngest daughter in 2011, where she enjoyed being part of the Senior Follies for several years, making new friends there and at church, attending concerts at the OKC Philharmonic, cheering on the OKC Thunder, and spending time with family. Mercedes passed away at 102 years old on July 3, 2022, of Covid. By this time, she had 3 children, 12 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren, and 4 great, great grandchildren. Through the years, she has loved God, family, friends, music, reading (including good mysteries), art, rocks, history, teaching, nature, and beautiful sunsets. The Memorial Service will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Saturday, July 9th at 11am CST, in Guthrie, OK. Those who would like to attend virtually can do so through Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/93826811557).

Mercedes Russow

October 5, 1919 - July 3, 2022