3 minute read
Anderson celebrates 35 years of banking i H
Raised in a working class family and influenced by a mother that took immense pride in her career, Anna Anderson followed in those footsteps and recently passed a 35year milestone at the local bank in Howe Seeing the bank through three different names and ownership groups, through the transition of paper accounting to computerized transactions, Anderson has remained the constant on the corner of Downtown Howe
A 1979 graduate of Howe High School, then Anna Thornhill was seeking what would be her career and worked some part-time jobs at a local hospital and then with the City of Howe as the municipal court clerk While a city employee in 1980, Howe State Bank was robbed and she worked with the police department and FBI through City Hall with the banking information In 1981, she learned that a teller position was open at Howe State Bank and she landed the job in April of that year
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“I just took the job until I decided what I wanted to do ” said Anderson “I had started down the nursing career path because that’s what my mom said I needed to do. But it didn’t take long for me to figure out what I wanted to do I wanted to stay here ”
Anderson went from being a teller to the loan department to the operations side with new accounts Heading up the ladder, Anderson became the loan secretary for Bob Williams for 15 years until becoming a loan officer herself In 2006, she became vice president and branch manager of Independent Bank of Howe
There has been a plethora of changes in the banking industry in the last 35 years and Anderson now is proud to say that she was in banking before computers
“I remember when we got the first little bitty screen that kept some balances and account numbers ” said Anderson “Then we got the huge monitors that looked like TVs and they still were for balancing internally We still did everything by hand We filed every check by hand every day. There were trays of checks that everyone in town wrote and we had to file them all ”
In 1991, before the internet age, the local Howe bank had 19 employees Automation has eliminated 13 of those positions as there are six full-time employees at the Howe branch which includes continued on page 3
Anderson continued from page 2 take care of them like I do No one will take care of the elderly customers like I do That’s why I’ve stayed And because the bank has been so good to me ”
When Anderson began thinking about her career, she wanted to work in a place where she could be a mom also Praising Independent Bank, Anderson says that she’s been able to put her family first
Anderson
“It’s due to technology and the way people conduct business now” said Anderson “People don’t come to the bank as much as before They do everything online ”
Anderson remembers the days of paydays at large employers such as TI and Johnson & Johnson
“We had what we used to call TI payday and you didn’t go to lunch or get out of your teller window because there was a line down to the Dairy Queen (now the location of the future Palio’s Pizza Café) With automatic deposit, people don’t come to the bank as much Technology has taken a lot of jobs out of banking ”
Spending every day in the same building for 35 years, one would think it would be mundane, but Anderson says she doesn’t know any different and isn’t interested in finding out
“In a small community like this, it’s more than just customers It becomes family” said Anderson “I’ve seen people come, people go – babies born, people pass away It’s family When people ask me why I’ve stayed so long, it’s because nobody is going to
“I was always able to take a late lunch and go to the play or take a late lunch and go to the pep rally I could leave a little early to go drive to Valley View for a football game They’ve always wanted us to put our family first ” said Anderson
Howe State Bank officially opened in 1964 at the current location When Anderson was hired, it was independently owned by Joe and Foy Wallace and investors It changed hands in the 1990s and got a new name of First Bank Howe It was later purchased by Independent Bank in 1994 During the first purchase Anderson says it was scary
“It wasn’t local people that bought us They were from the Dallas area and it was scary.” said Anderson. “But Jim Shannon came on board as the president and he made the transition really easy because he was great to work for.”
Howe State Bank being independently owned for so many years was a comfort zone for employees When the new investors purchased the bank, they brought new ideas and changed the name to First Bank Howe and brought with it a ‘broken wing eagle’ logo that people snickered at
David Brooks from the McKinney area purchased the bank and brought a more local feel for Anderson’s taste “When Independent Bank bought us, it continued on page 6
