Galen “Digger” Liggett, a face we’ve seen at Citizen’s State Bank since 1973, has hung up his calculator after half a century in one industry, one business and one location.
Imagine the changes in the financial world in the last 50 years! Half a century ago, many companies still kept manual records. In 1973 the only way we knew our account balances was to have kept good records in the little book register that came with the checks. Everyone balanced their check books. We looked for pennies or moved decimal points. We had to write our digits carefully so we could tell an 8 from a 3 or a 5 from a 2.
Now, many folks don’t bother with keeping a checkbook register up to date more than once a month if that. They have on-line banking so they can watch the fluctuations in their accounts. Online banking also allows us to download all the information and sort it in the most useful way. The questions bankers like Liggett answered daily now require no banker/ client contact. That doesn’t mean the job got easier. It just means it changed into something different.
Changing methods brought on a change in processes which led to bigger and more powerful computers, which meant more information could be found at our fingertips. Both of those things spurred the need for learning new skills, changing the way we think and shifting our focus.
Changes in the nation’s political landscape also affect the banking industry as rules and regulations change to suit the powers in charge.
All of those changes meant 50 years of on-the-job training for Liggett as he came into the business before computers became a household appliance.
Liggett was hired by John McReynolds, manager of Farmers National Bank, and the father of his classmate and friend, Steve McReynolds, on December 17, 1973. Since that time, he has also worked at Midwest Community Bank and Citizens State Bank & Trust, yet never changed employers or jobs.
A one-industry one-bank one-location for 50 years (and 30 days, exactly) career is a career one can be proud of.
