How’d you get hooked on this job?

I started in banking in 1984. I wanted a career in my community, one working with people and helping them, and had an opportunity for a ground-level position at a bank and worked my through the ranks.

You’ve worked at both major banking institutions and community banks. Why did you come back to smaller banking?

I love community banks. I love people, I love making a difference in peoples’ lives. A smaller bank gives me the ability to provide more personalized service; it allows me to maintain my connections in my community. I bailed out of big banks—in the early ’90s I survived the merger mania and worked for four different banks, but I was experiencing the loss of focus on customer service, your customers became a number and not a person, and it was just not anything I had a desire to become a part of. My heart is in community banks. Working with customers long enough to see their families grow, to make their kids their first auto loan, mortgage, being part of their lives. You can’t have that a large bank.

What does it mean to you to be part of the community here?

Oh, my roots run deep. I was born and raised in southern Morgan County. My husband and I built a home across the road from where I was born and raised. We could have built the home anywhere; my family has been out there for nearly a century. It’s ... it’s the dirt. It’s the location, in a community I was part of my entire life. I have pride in this community. I suppose it’s all I’ve ever known. Having the ability to network within my own community is a wonderful part of my job.

How is that an advantage to your clients?

I think the ability to be active in the community and network benefits them in many ways—you have the ability to know what resources are out there to help them make connections. If you’re not my customer, I want you to be my customer! I may not know you, but I’ll know you as soon as we finish this conversation. I love being helpful in situations where they have needs. Sometimes I warn people—if we’re taking a pre-qualification application or discussing business ideas, I’m going to ask a LOT of questions, because I want to know you.

What do you enjoy doing personally, just for you?

I’m a full-time banker, full-time wife, full-time caregiver. I love spending time with family and being outdoors. We’re in a rural spot, we love to sit on the patio and just enjoy nature. I absolutely love gardening and nurturing things! I am so ready to dig in the dirt, plant bulbs and seeds and watch them grow. It’s my form of therapy, honestly. It’s my disconnect. even just to sit on the patio and watch it snow.

What’s the best part about country living?

Our home is set back off a county road, so when we lose God’s curtain—that’s what I call the leaves from the tress—we’re exposed, and we joke and say that all the people who drive by call us the Crazy Fire People. We’re outside constantly with a bonfire, having conversation over a crackling fire. Our humanity creeps in and we take things for granted, but it’s good to sit and take things in awe. That’s my peace, that’s my happy.