Celia "Joy" Bankoff

Celia Joy Bankoff, b. Nov. 27, 1924, d. Dec. 17, 2014. When Joy Bankoff was born 90 years ago they threw a parade. In fact, it was the inaugural Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but in characteristic fashion Joy claimed it as her own. Joy was the daughter of the late Leon and Hattie Heyman of Tulsa. She was married to the late Julius M. Bankoff. Outspoken in the extreme, she could have been the person to whom Winston Churchill was referring when he said that tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip, though it is certain that she mastered one part of the definition better than the other. Her grandchildren lovingly knew her as Joy the Mean, in contrast with her husband’s appellation, Julius the Benevolent. Joy was devoted to the arts, particularly the Tulsa Ballet, Opera and Philharmonic. Born Jewish, she was a professed agnostic who nonetheless enjoyed certain of her Jewish family traditional celebrations including the Passover Seder and Chanukah. She could always be heard courtside at Tulsa University basketball games. Her Halloween antics were legendary, not only in her neighborhood, but at her children’s schools where she played a very convincing witch to the embarrassment of her daughters and son. She was an incredibly successful gardener, a voracious reader and she traveled extensively. She was predeceased by her brother L. W. Heyman, Jr. of Houston, TX, and survived by her sister, Beverly Lou Galamba of Shawnee Mission, KS, three children: Kathy Jo Bankoff Friedland, and husband Jeffrey Owen Friedland of Denver, CO; Valerie Sue Bankoff Guterman Halpern, and husband David Halpern of Santa Fe, NM, and Michael Steven Bankoff of Denver, CO, her devoted niece, Jacquelyn Nicole Heyman of New Orleans, LA, six grandchildren, Jason Edward Friedland, Lauren Hope Friedland, Robert Colin Guterman, Frances Beth Guterman, Caroline Rose Bankoff, and Alexander Matthew Bankoff, and six great grandchildren: Ryan, Julien, Wyatt, Violet, Zoe, and Amber. The family is grateful for the attentive and loving care Joy received from wonderful caregivers and physicians during her final years. In particular, she regarded Rachel Patterson and her husband Bobby, as close as family. The list of caregivers includes Shawn Brown, Tonia Williams, Gwen Hunt, Deborah Wagner, Aaron Boyd and Donna Lee, the staff of Miller Hospice and the Tulsa Jewish Retirement and Health Care Center and her primary care physician, Dr. Stephen J. Gawey. Graveside Services were Thursday, December 18, 2014, at Rose Hill Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa. FITZGERALD IVY CHAPEL 918-585-1151

Celia "Joy" Bankoff

November 27, 1924 - December 17, 2014