The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Dessa Rodeffer, Quill Publisher-Owner
Forty years in a financial institution gives a lot of room for change, and for Judy Mueller, Vice President and Cashier at First State Bank of Western Illinois, she has seen the changes as very good for La Harpe and prosperous for her hometown banking facility.
Judy (Apt) Mueller, a lifelong resident of La Harpe, was hired in 1962 by the State Bank Of La Harpe right out of high school. She recalls missing her class trip because she had gotten "this great job" at the bank.
Judy has seen the State Bank of La Harpe (with assets at $2.7 million at her hiring), grow into a Holding Company now with assets over $135 million under the leadership of Ron Peterson, President and strong support of the Board of Directors.
"They moved us forward to form a holding company," Judy said, "to allow us to purchase other branches, and to increase our lending limit. This enabled us to loan larger dollars to our customers."
"It was also their leadership that encouraged keeping the facility and corporate offices in La Harpe rather than move it to a larger community. Helping La Harpe grow is one of their goals, and this has been good for La Harpe."
The bank grew from one long narrow building (approximately 20 foot wide) to about 4 times the size during several remodeling projects, while remaining in its present location along La Harpe's Main Street.
Not only has the La Harpe facility grown but the customer base has increased with the purchase of other facilities. Successful branches of First State Bank of Western Illinois are:
La Harpe First State Bank of Western Illinois is at 128 East Main,
Macomb First State Bank of Western Illinois is at 500 East Jackson plus
Macomb Express Bank inside HyVee at 1600 E. Jackson,
Carthage at 433 Main Street, and
Hamilton at 1035 Broadway, and finally
There is also:
EzAcess Telephone Banking by calling (800) 789-6309 and
INTERNET BANKING at the website: www.fsbwi.com where you can access all your accounts if you choose to sign up.
Judy explained that Internet Banking will help customers keep track of their accounts any hour of the day. They can switch funds from one account to another, pay bills with a bill paying service that is available at a small fee.
If they have a child in college, they can monitor their account, switch funds into their account as needed any hour of the day without leaving their home.
They can also get their statements, see their balances and find out what checks have come in. It is the banking of the future and the way Judy has seen First State meet the demands of their customers.
When Judy was hired, the bank was open every day except Thursday afternoons and Sundays. They worked all day on Saturdays to meet customers needs.
"Saturday was one of our biggest days," she recalls. "Everyone would come to town to do get their groceries and do their banking."
Now the bank is open every weekday with Fridays expanded to 6 p.m. and Saturdays cut back to noon closings. Saturdays are slower days in town and at the bank.
Judy's first job was putting checks in alphabetical order according to signatures, then posting checks and deposits to individual accounts, filming the checks, filing them, and at the month's end, preparing statements for mailing.
"There were no account numbers, no printed names and addresses on checks, and sometimes signatures were difficult to read."
Now the bank checks are electronically sorted by account numbers through the use of a proof machine and reader sorter, and the calculations are made to each person's account.
Dress has changed, too. They came to work in heels and dressy clothes. Later dress pant suits became popular. She remembers how the girls would get together to see what they were wearing. "No one wanted to be caught the only one wearing them," she said.
Then they began to have casual Friday. Employees could wear casual slacks with a First State Bank shirt and encouraged to do so.
"Currently we have a program for the last Friday of the month where an employee who wants to wear jeans with their First State Bank shirt can pay $3.00 for the privilege and the funds are used for donation to various charities."
One thing that hasn't changed, Judy said, "We are still a community bank. We still support many endeavors throughout our area, but do so with our budget.
"We can no longer give away the bank," so to speak, but a budget helps us to support the community in responsible giving.".
Today, Judy's jobs are many. She is in charge of all regulatory reporting for the bank and for the holding company. That in itself is enough with the compliance requirements from state and federal regulations. But Judy's jobs do not stop there.
She is in charge of the Income Tax accounting including monthly reporting and budget comparison reports. She manages Accounts Payable and manages the accounting for the bank's Investment portfolio which Ron Peterson oversees.
She oversees the gathering and publishing of their newsletter sent to all customers quarterly.
She has been secretary for the bank's Board of Directors since 1987.
She laughs, "When I started at 17, I didn't know there was a board."
"Mr. Nortrup, President and Mr. Sexton, Cashier interviewed and hired me. There were only six employees- Ernest Nortrup-Pres., Bill Sexton-Cashier, Milton Woolrey-Asst. Cashier, Mary Jane Stevens, Richard Helmers, and myself."
"Mr. Nortrup and Mr. Sexton along with their wives Velma and Avis were extremely kind to me," she recalls.
The Board Of Directors at that time were F.J. Reu, Fred Gibb, Jr., W.E. Sexton, E.F. Nortrup, B.I. Mueller, H. W. Thompson, and Harold W. Miller.
In June of 1989 when the Board had changed the name to First State Bank of Western Illinois - Directors were Fred Gibb, Jr., B.I. Mueller, R. G. Peterson, W. E. Sexton, Richard Rasmussen, and C.W. Morrison with twenty officers and employees.
Current Directors are C. W. Morrison, R. G. Peterson, Richard Rasmussen, James Garner, Jay Morrison, and Andrew J. Bastert
And the number of employees which started at six, forty-one years ago, are at 59 today. 16 employees are in the Corporate office of La Harpe, 10 in the La Harpe banking facility, 12 in Carthage, 11 in Macomb, 6 in Hamilton, and 4 in the Express Bank of Macomb's HyVee.
Judy said other milestones at the bank is moving into the computer age.
"For several years we shared one computer. Now there is a computer on everyone's desk. Computers are connected to all branches for access to all accounts."
There is also the change from the old copy machine to the new state of the art machines of today that also staple and punch holes for you.
There is the ever busy Fax Machine constantly in use and the "in house" data processing which was formerly done by an outside firm.
Judy recalls the change in lending loans. She remembers when tellers could no longer issue loans at the teller window. Customers would need to see a "loan officer". The loan document at that time was a single 4"x 8" form with the simple words "the undersigned promise to pay". You would just sign the note and you got the loan.
Then there was the assigning of account numbers to customers requiring personalized checks (no more "counter" checks or "universal" checks).
And, of course, there were the many remodeling projects. In 1962 the Post Office leased the east building and the bank occupied the west building. The 4 teller windows were located in a line in front of the vault facing the east. There was not much room between the east wall and the windows.
"Mr. Nortrup and Mr. Sexton shared an office at the front of the building, each having their own desk in the same room. There was a bookkeeping room and a conference/board meeting room in the back.
In 1973, the first remodeling occurred. They expanded into the post office moving teller windows into the location that they are today. Individual offices were added where the teller windows had been, but were removed in the next remodeling.
The remodeling occurred again moving into adjacent buildings purchased at the west to hold compliance and corporate offices. This not only improved the work space and environment for the staff, but improved the Main Street appearance of La Harpe.
Judy said she couldn't have worked at the bank all of these years without the support of her family. "My husband Boyd has been very supportive."
She took off one year when their only daughter, Monica, was born, and was fortunate to have her sister babysit when she returned to work.
Boyd retired after 35 years of teaching at Fort Madison High School in Iowa. Their one daughter Monica (Brandon) Crim is a Family Nurse Practitioner and recently purchased the La Harpe Davier Clinic (now Family Rural Health of La Harpe). They have two grandchildren, Jared and Tori Crim which they enjoy being with in their spare time.
"I have had the opportunity to work with many wonderful people, and am very grateful for that," she said. "After all of these years, I still enjoy my work and the challenges it presents every day."
The First State Bank Of Western Illinois has invited the public to a reception in honor of Judith K. Mueller's 40 years with them. It will be held in the bank's lobby in La Harpe from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. this Friday, May 9th.
At 17, Judy Apt of La Harpe, never dreamed she would some day be Vice President of a $135 million dollar financial institution by giving up her senior class trip.