If you want your prayers answered you need to get off your knees and do something about it, was one of many expressions Charles Banks used to utter before he drew his last breath at Shawnee Manor on January 1, 2016.

Charles was born in Atlanta Georgia on March 30, 1934 to the union of James Banks and Susie T. Banks, both deceased.  One of Charles's first childhood memories occurred while growing up in Atlanta when as a young teenager he attended a get together where an older young man also from Atlanta was about to go away to attend school up North.  That young man's name was Martin Luther King, Jr.

A few years later, Charles and his mom and dad moved north to Washington, D.C. where Charles attended Shaw Junior High School and Cardozo High School. By the time Charles finished high school, he had inherited a strong work ethic that remained with him for the rest of his life.  While as a student he claimed to have delivered every daily Washington, D.C. newspaper to include the Washington Post, The Washington Times Herald, The Washington Star and the Washington News.  Charles was especially proud of the fact that his customers could always count on having their paper by 7:00 a.m. every day rain or shine.

Charles graduated from Cardozo Senior High School in 1953.  While at Cardozo he met the love of his life, a young lady named Emma Christie whom he was introduced to by her older brother, John. Charles admitted he wasn't much of a student while he was in high school and that he liked to make people laugh.  Several times he said teachers told him they would have put his butt out long ago if they hadn't been laughing so hard.  But he did have a love for history and reading.  He once claimed he had read nearly all of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer novels.

A women's pet and a man's threat and Daddy do it good, were two of several nick names Charles had given himself.  Unfortunately, for him Charles didn't do it well enough and he dropped out of Morgan State University, near Baltimore during his first year in college.  From there, Charles went to New York to seek his fortune believing if he could make it there he could make it anywhere.  Much to his chagrin, he did not make it there and a few months later he was back in D.C. Shortly after his return to D.C. he decided to enter the military.

Upon Charles enlistment in the United States Air Force, he was assigned to Sampson Air Force Base located in Seneca Lake, New York, where he did his basic training. Following his stint at Sampson, Charles was assigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base, in Anchorage, Alaska.  While at Elmendorf, he would continue his romance of Emma Christie whom he later ask to marry.  Fortunately for him she accepted because winter nights in Alaska get extremely cold.  Upon her acceptance of Charles proposal, Emma was off to Alaska.  The two would marry on August 9, 1956 and they produced one child, Farley Keith Banks in October of 1957.

Charles left the Air Force in the late 1950s and reentered a short time later.  He was then assigned to Andrews Air Force Base.  Other assignments included Taiwan during Viet Nam and Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  Charles left the service for good in March 1968 and returned to Washington, D.C.

While at Andrews, Charles stared driving a taxi part time which he would do off and on until he gave up driving a cab for good in the early 2000s. Charles drove for several Washington D.C. cab companies where he picked up many local and national literary, political and media figures to include: former U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson, former ABC News anchorman and White House correspondent, Sam Donaldson, Eric Holder, when Mr. Holder was United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and then Senator Joe Biden.  Charles claimed that the cab ride with Senator Biden was particularly memorable because not only did the Senator sit up front with him; he also tipped him which surprised Charles given the short ride from Capital Hill to Union Station.  Charles also had Robert Dallek in his cab.  Mr. Dallek had written a two volume biography of President Lyndon Johnson.  And he picked up Virginia Thomas, the wife of Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  The cab ride with Mrs. Thomas occurred shortly after her husband's confirmation hearing.

After leaving the military, Charles served as a corrections officer at Lorton Reformatory before accepting a position at D.C. General Hospital before finally retiring for good in 1989.

Charles liked to watch television even though he often referred to television as the idiot box.  However, his taste in television went from the eclectic to the absurd.  Even though he like watching news and public affairs programming like This Week with David Brinkley and Inside Washington he could also be found watching The Beverly Hillbillies and Married With Children.  Charles also claimed to watch Wall Street Week but it was believed he only said this because the Michael J. Fox character on Family Ties said he liked it.