Glenn S. Banner, 88

October 8, 1933 - June 11, 2022

Glenn Samuel Banner, 88, of Lancaster died on Saturday, June 11, 2022. He was the husband of Dorothy Leithiser with whom he shared 61 years of marriage.

Formerly of Columbia, Glenn graduated in 1951. He was a bank teller at the town’s Central National Bank before enlisting in the United States Navy for four years, serving during the Korean War at the Headquarters of the Third Naval District in New York and later at the Headquarters of the Caribbean Command in the Panama Canal Zone.

Upon discharge he returned to banking before enrolling at Millersville State Teachers College in January of 1957, after being inspired to do so by 12-year-old Wayne Heim, a student in his Sunday School class. Glenn was eventually hired to teach fifth grade in 1960 at the James Buchanan Elementary School in Lancaster. After his second year of teaching, he went right along with his fifth graders into sixth grade, thereby teaching the same students two consecutive years. These youngsters would unknowingly change his career; for in September of 1962, WITF began offering educational programs via television. The Lancaster Township School Board decreed that each class watch one program of the approximately fifty that were offered. Glenn’s students voted and chose a program entitled: Let’s Talk Spanish. Glenn became so interested in the language that he began studying it at F&M, Millersville, Kent State, La Universidad de San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and finally at La Universidad de Valencia in Spain. He later was certified to teach in secondary education, earned a Master’s degree, taught one year at Lancaster Township Jr. High and then moved on to Conestoga Valley High School where he taught more than a thousand wonderful, dedicated students for twenty-two years. One day, near the end of his teaching career, the faculty was called to a meeting to be introduced to their new boss and vice-principal. Glenn almost collapsed when the gentleman was introduced as: Mr. Wayne Heim from nearby Columbia! It was indeed the grown-up version of that same little 12-year-old kid who had inspired him to become a teacher some 30 years previously!

Glenn enjoyed playing softball, baseball and tennis. By age 5 he was playing on the North End playground team and also joined the first “hardball” team placed in an official league by the Columbia Moose Lodge at age 13 and later lettered on the Columbia H. S. varsity. During the summers he played American Legion ball with both Maytown and Marietta. His favorite personal sports memory was winning the Caribbean Command championship against a naval base team having 8,000 men from which to form a team. Glenn’s headquarters base consisted of exactly 36 men, only 13 of whom tried out for the team!

After learning to play tennis in Panama, he continued playing for forty years, coaching both baseball and tennis teams at CV for 18 seasons. His 1975 baseball squad (sparked by Jeff Geyer, Steve Reese and Jim Lilley) won the sectional title.

As a 13-year-old, Glenn was seriously injured in a bicycle accident. Being on crutches for six weeks and unable to play ball in the streets or at the playground with his buddies, out of sheer desperation he picked up his parents’ deck of pinochle cards and began to fashion his own game of baseball. Hearts were hits, diamonds were ground outs, spades were pop fouls and strikeouts, etc. Soon he had his buddies playing the game on the floor of their homes. Several years later he had his navy friends in both New York and Panama caught up in the game. Upon discharge in 1956 the game was never played again … until … 1994 when the big leaguers went on strike! Glenn missed the games so much that he decided to re-do his own game and have all the information placed on professionally printed cards. Brookshire Printers produced it; and Glenn’s wife Dorothy suggested giving the game to local organizations to sell as a fund-raiser. Three different youth groups eventually realized $50,000 from the games!

In the late 1960’s Glenn’s wonderful mother contracted Alzheimer’s Disease; and his religious faith was given such a jolt that he refused to attend church for the next seven years. Then in the mid-70’s a special group of students passed through his classes at CV; and through a student named Doug Myer, he was invited to attend Calvary Church on Christmas Eve to hear the Youth Choir sing. That experience, coupled with a very special Christmas card from Doug, changed his life completely. He began attending Calvary Church the following week, fell in love with the Bible teaching he was hearing, and eventually took courses with three Bible colleges until he finished all 66 books. He then requested Pastor Eric Creighton’s permission to teach adult classes and enjoyed that assignment for 22 years.

In 2013 Glenn was encouraged to put an excerpt of what he considered to be the most important lesson he ever taught onto a DVD. Eric Lee Productions prepared the sound portion, and Deep Focus Pictures (Jonathan Timerell) added incredibly appropriate visual effects. The disc is entitled Nail Prints for Us and may be obtained thru Harvest Bible Church. (717-397-4371)

Eric Lee also provided all the background music and sound effects for Glenn’s Civil War program about the burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville bridge, a power-point program which Glenn presented 430 times in seven different counties of southeastern Pennsylvania. His most memorable event was given in 1994 in the seminary building at Gettysburg, where generals of both armies climbed to the cupola of the building for military observations during the great battle. The Civil War program was an offshoot of Glenn’s novel Flames Across the Susquehanna. He first conceived the book while walking home from teaching elementary school after marveling about how much his fifth graders loved to hear him read to them. It was during that short walk that he determined to write the story about the exciting underground railroad escapades and the cataclysmic Civil War event of the burning of the longest covered wooden bridge in the world, all involving his boyhood hometown of Columbia. Later that night Glenn made arrangements to meet with Dr. John Denney, whom he interviewed just two days later.

After Dr. Denney shared as many remembrances as he could recall of his grandfather’s adventures on the night he and three other fellow citizens contributed to the destruction of the bridge, he telephoned his next-door neighbor, Mr. Emmitt Rasbridge, who was concurrently living in the old Wright Mansion. Historically speaking, this second unexpected interview and tour of the mansion was to cap the most incredible evening of Glenn’s life!

When he was a lad, Mr. Rasbridge’s mother was a close friend of the Wright family, and would take her son with her to visit them on many occasions. The Wrights treated young Emmitt like a son of their own, and he became extremely familiar with every last nook and cranny of the ancient home and former fortress against Indian attacks, even living in the dwelling during his own final years. That night Mr. Rasbridge showed Glenn two of several secret passageways and the hidden room in the basement where people could easily be sequestered even for days, if necessary. Later, on the way home to Lancaster, Glenn remembered how his body was swarming with goose bumps, and declared to himself: “I have got to write this book!”

During the next months Glenn wrote diligently every day, but the results were not to his satisfaction nor to his possible publishers as well. Because of his teaching and Master’s Degree work, he laid his efforts aside and nearly forgot his enterprise until three years after his retirement. After nearly thirty years he rediscovered the old manuscript on a shelf and began to resurrect his dream. He concentrated on developing his characters more thoroughly and added several new scenes, weaving as much action into the story as he could generate.

When he was much happier with the results, his wife Dorothy made it easy. She not only took care of the printing expenses but suggested donating the book to the Columbia Historical Preservation Society and allowing them to market the book as a fund-raiser. Before long Bob and Florence Miller as well as Wayne Von Stetten were taking care of all the details, and the book was in their hands for December 1993 Christmas sales. Not having any idea how the books would sell, they printed 1800 copies, which sold out in just two days! They quickly printed 3200 more, and those sold out in a few months. Now, twenty years later, 25,000 have been printed. The book can still be purchased at either the Columbia or Lancaster County Historical Society buildings.

One of Glenn’s most cherished comments about his book came from a Lancaster County woman speaking to him from her automobile. She asked if he was the author of Flames Across the Susquehanna. After Glenn pled guilty, she remarked: “I just finished reading it on Tuesday. The next morning I was so sorry that I was done with it … I just picked it right back up and started all over again! So there. Just thought you’d like to know.”

It’s been fun writing this, and in closing I’d like to thank anyone and everyone who has spent meaningful time with me along my sojourn in life and shared in the wonderful eight decades the Lord has granted me. My secret wish is that each and every one of you has had, or yet will have, a Doug Myer (or maybe a Janet Myer) walk into your life and help you find your way … to Eternal Life. I fervently hope to see each one of you … in Heaven! (I John 5:13) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Surviving Glenn in addition to his wife Dorothy, are several nieces and nephews. Glenn was preceded in death by his parents Samuel Frederick and Ruth Esta (Kreider) Banner, his brother Craig A. Banner, and his sister Lois Hostetter.

A visitation will take place from 10:00 to 11:00 AM, followed by the celebration of Glenn’s life at 11:00 AM, Saturday, July 9, 2022, at Harvest Bible Church with The Rev. Jonathan Walters officiating. Interment will take place 11:00 AM Monday, July 11, 2022, at Laurel Hill Memorial Gardens, Columbia, PA.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Harvest Bible Church, 1460 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601. https://harvestbiblechurch.org/giving/

Glenn would like to extend the invitation if you don’t have a home church, please visit Harvest Bible church and hear Jon Walters preach and teach the Word.