I want to take my word space in this month’s letter to thank our longest tenured employee, Brenda Goodrich. Brenda has been serving the credit union’s members since 1996 – 25 years. She’s seen lots of changes in that time: new products added, various remodels, lots of new members to meet, a new branch opening, and (humbling for me) three different CEOs. Generations of families know her – in some cases she is working with the grandchildren of members she met way back when. She has often commented to me about how she has watched members who started in our kid’s account coming in to open accounts for their kids – and how she loves that.

Brenda’s style is not effusive. She is a fairly reserved, hard-working lady who diligently and quietly gets her work done for our members. Which is why it’s always great to see when she cracks a smile. And when she talks about our members, she does crack that smile. She will tell me stories about her member interactions throughout the years. Sometimes those stories are sad – when you are around for 25 years, there are members who will pass, and Brenda remembers all of them. But more often than not, it will be a funny story that brings that quick, elusive smile to her face.

Quite a few years ago, Brenda’s role changed from frontline to operations.  She usually sits towards the back of the office, working at her desk to get items processed, take care of debit card issues, processing wires, paying the bills, etc. And yet, when members come in, they often make it a point to holler a hello back to her. They remember how hard she worked to solve a problem for them back in 2002 – whatever the issue was is long forgotten, but how hard she worked to solve it isn’t. And although she often doesn’t show it on her face, members can instinctively feel that she cares for them. 

I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of everyone on this extremely hardworking staff. But today, I will single out one person – she deserves that credit for all the years she has cared for our members. And I will say to her now what members often say to me: “Tell Brenda she’s not allowed to retire”.  You heard them BG – you have to stick around for the long run.