This past week, I announced that I am retiring after a 35-year career in trust banking. The story of my career is a sort of banking circle of life.
My Daddy grew up in Savannah at the end of West Bay Street at the old Traffic Circle. It was a tiny house, and my Granny ran a little store in the front room of the house. She even had one of those old timey gas pumps with the glass at the top.
The old Savannah Bank & Trust Co. decided to build a new branch at the Traffic Circle in the late 50’s, and my Granny sold the bank a strip of land so it could build the drive thru of the branch. But unbeknownst to my Mom and Dad, she made another deal. While the branch was being built, the temporary office was run out of my Granny’s front-room store. The bank advertised it as the “Smallest Bank in the U.S.A.”
Then I came along, and in the 60’s I would ride my tricycle and later bicycle around that bank branch on weekends while visiting my Granny. One day, I found a $5 bill in the parking lot, and I caught the fever for lost treasure. I didn’t know much about banking, but I knew that’s where they kept the money. From then on, I searched that bank property every time I visited Granny.
Granny passed away in the early 70’s, and Dad sold the little house to the bank so it could expand its drive thru. I made it to UGA in the early 80’s and majored in Banking & Finance. I would go to that career office on Lumpkin and sign up for interviews to get practice. One of the people I interviewed with was a Mr. Jimmy at Savannah Bank.
After graduation, I started with C&S Bank in Savannah and worked as a trainee at its branch near the old Traffic Circle. I eventually joined the Trust Department where I got to know and spend some time with banking legend Mills Bee Lane, Jr.
My career took me to North Carolina then back to Georgia and back to Savannah to a new local bank. Mr. Jimmy was one of the founders of that bank, and for a time my office was in the old Savannah Bank building on Johnson Square. After a good run there, I headed to Florida to make more money to close out my career and retire with the love of my life.
I saw Mr. Jimmy at my uncle’s funeral last fall, and we briefly reminisced about the past. Why is Mr. Jimmy so important in this rambling story? He’s the young banker that ran the branch in my Granny’s front room store on the old Banking Traffic Circle.
My Daddy grew up in Savannah at the end of West Bay Street at the old Traffic Circle. It was a tiny house, and my Granny ran a little store in the front room of the house. She even had one of those old timey gas pumps with the glass at the top.
The old Savannah Bank & Trust Co. decided to build a new branch at the Traffic Circle in the late 50’s, and my Granny sold the bank a strip of land so it could build the drive thru of the branch. But unbeknownst to my Mom and Dad, she made another deal. While the branch was being built, the temporary office was run out of my Granny’s front-room store. The bank advertised it as the “Smallest Bank in the U.S.A.”
Then I came along, and in the 60’s I would ride my tricycle and later bicycle around that bank branch on weekends while visiting my Granny. One day, I found a $5 bill in the parking lot, and I caught the fever for lost treasure. I didn’t know much about banking, but I knew that’s where they kept the money. From then on, I searched that bank property every time I visited Granny.
Granny passed away in the early 70’s, and Dad sold the little house to the bank so it could expand its drive thru. I made it to UGA in the early 80’s and majored in Banking & Finance. I would go to that career office on Lumpkin and sign up for interviews to get practice. One of the people I interviewed with was a Mr. Jimmy at Savannah Bank.
After graduation, I started with C&S Bank in Savannah and worked as a trainee at its branch near the old Traffic Circle. I eventually joined the Trust Department where I got to know and spend some time with banking legend Mills Bee Lane, Jr.
My career took me to North Carolina then back to Georgia and back to Savannah to a new local bank. Mr. Jimmy was one of the founders of that bank, and for a time my office was in the old Savannah Bank building on Johnson Square. After a good run there, I headed to Florida to make more money to close out my career and retire with the love of my life.
I saw Mr. Jimmy at my uncle’s funeral last fall, and we briefly reminisced about the past. Why is Mr. Jimmy so important in this rambling story? He’s the young banker that ran the branch in my Granny’s front room store on the old Banking Traffic Circle.