Minnesotan closes door on seven decades in banking

Northwestern Financial Review, Sep 1-Sep 14, 2003 by Hilgert, Jackie

It's quite likely Evelyn Roelike holds the world record for the longest career in banking. Roelike came to work for her father at the Elrosa State Bank in west central Minnesota in the same month that Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp - June, 1933. Earlier this year, as she approached her 70th anniversary at North American State Bank, Belgrade, Minn., Roelike decided it was time to retire from the only job she's ever had. Upon reflecting on almost three-quarters of a century at the same bank, Roelike served up a simple explanation for her vocational longevity: she loved her job.

Having worked as both a teller and bookkeeper through the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam and the 1980s' farm crisis, it turns out Roelike's toughest day at the bank took place on May 30, 2003 - the day she retired. "It wasn't the most pleasant thing," Roelike said of her emotional farewell reception attended by family, friends and co-workers at the Elrosa branch of North American State Bank. "I loved my job and I loved being with people."

"But," she laughed, "I'm doing okay. I'm fine." Roelike is getting used to retirement although she misses the people at the bank a lot.

Three months after Roelike's retirement, Elrosa branch manager and president David Bauer is discovering that Roelike's love for the customer extended far beyond the boundaries of their rural community. "We have customers who've moved to Arizona or California," Bauer said. Roelike, who processed their bank-by-mail deposits, would oftentimes include a handwritten note with the receipt keeping far-away customers abreast of what was happening around town. "I'm now finding out a lot of our customers really appreciated that personal touch," Bauer said. Not a day passes at the Elrosa branch without at least one customer asking about Evelyn Roelike, he said.

Bauer said Roelike's duties at the bank have been folded into another employee's duties, but her absence has left a void. "She was always in the door on time in the morning and always had that cheery attitude," he said. "She's missed in that regard."

Deb Van Buren, who works at the $85 million bank's main office in Belgrade, Minn., likened Roelike's retirement to finishing a favorite book. "People today put in seven years and think it's been 70," Van Buren said. "It's sad to bid farewell to those true-tested work ethics."

Roelike learned the business at her father's side. Math Bauer was hired to manage the Elrosa branch in 1919 and Evelyn joined him after graduating from high school in 1933. Father and daughter were the bank's only employees as the country crawled out of the Great Depression. After marrying, Roelike told her new husband she'd only stay at the bank for a few years, then concentrate on her family. "Those few years just went on and on and on," Roelike laughed.

She took two weeks off in 1948 after delivering her only child, and then she was back at the bank. "I enjoyed my work and I enjoyed the people. That's why I just kept on," she said.

With a career that spanned seven decades, Roelike saw many changes in banking. A change she didn't care too much for was the conversion to computers. "I said, Oh, I've been through so many stages,' and I really didn't care too much for it at first," she recalled. "Now I can see you can't get along without them."

There's something else banks can't get along without, Roelike opined. "I think honesty is the most important thing," she said, adding that friendliness should fall close behind honesty, especially for bankers. "I tell the young people to talk to everybody, even the children," she added. Roelike always had a smile and a greeting for everyone who entered her bank. "Now when they see me on the street, they're always nice to me."

Bauer, who is Roelike's nephew, said his aunt has been an asset not only to the bank, but to the community as well. "If there were ever fundraising, charitable drives, church doings, even baseball doings, she'd be right there," Bauer said. [The baseball reference points to the Elrosa Saints, the town's leading contender in the Stearns County amateur baseball league.]

An ardent Saints fan, Roelike doesn't get to many games since her husband passed away three years ago. Instead, the 89-year-old has taken a fancy to card playing in her fledgling retirement, another reason for not cheering for the Saints in person on Sunday afternoons. Although card playing keeps her out of the bleachers, it doesn't keep Roelike away from her friends at the bank.

"I can't stay away," Roelike said of her frequent visits into the bank. "I go back and visit with the tellers. They all holler when I open up the door," she said. Seventy years through the same front door makes for a pretty sturdy habit. "They're happy when I come in and I'm happy to be there."