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Waupaca County Post

March 18,2006

Rawson Celebrates 50 Years With Farmers State Bank

By Angie Landsverk, Post Staff Writer

When Fred Rawson first began working at Farmers State Bank in 1956, it was one of three financial institutions in the city.

“There was us, First National Bank and a savings and loan,” he said.

During the past 50 years, Rawson has seen countless changes in the banking industry and in the Waupaca community as well.

He reminisced about those changes Monday while sitting in the boardroom at Farmers State Bank.

Last week, Farmers State Bank celebrated Rawson’s 50^th anniversary with the bank. A cake and a gift were among the surprises.

Rawson retired in 1999 and continues to serve as a director. He has been on that board for more than two decades.

After graduating from Waupaca High School in 1949, the Waupaca native headed to Carleton College in Northfield, Minn From there, he went to the Univerity of Wisconsin-Madison and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force for four years.

Rawson was stationed at Wheelers Field in Libya, North Africa, for 18 months and then at Landsburg, Germany, for 12 months.

After being discharged from the service, he was asked if he was interested in a job at Farmers State Bank.

He began there as a bookkeeper.

“The size of the bank was approximately $3 million,” he said. Today, it is more than $130 million.

From bookkeeping, he moved into a teller position and then to assistant vice president and a lending officer. Later, he became senior vice president and a director of the bank.

Rawson’s father also worked at the bank and served as the bank’s president.

Of the various positions that Rawson held during his career at Farmers State Bank, lending was probably his favorite.

He said he liked working with people. “It’s a people job, really, more than anything,” he said.

Rawson said that banking is not an isolated business like it once was, and that there have been many changes through the years, particularly when it comes to lending policies. For example, when he first became a director of the bank, it was the directors who had to check all the information that was given by those who applied for real estate or farm loans.

That often meant visiting the actual farms to check the acreage and number of cows.

A graduate of the School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rawson said that working in banking means keeping up with the ever-changing interest rates and applying new knowledge.

“Each facet of banking has changed so much – even in the last 10 years,” he said.

Credit checks take a minimal amount of time today, and marketing is now a big component of the industry because of the competitive nature of the field.

“When I started in the bank, we had four officers in the bank,” Rawson said. “Today, we employ 12 officers.”

In addition, Farmers State Bank has out-of-town branches in Wild Rose and Fremont, he said.

At one time, Rawson served as president of the Waupaca County Bankers Association – a position he found interesting.

He also served two terms on the Waupaca Common Council, served on the city’s Board of Appeals, and has been a member of the Masonic Lodge, Waupaca Lions Club, Waupaca Conservation Club, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Looking back over the past 50 years, Rawson says the Waupaca area has certainly changed, and those who work in the banking industry always s feel a little responsibility for that growth.

Fran Vergauwen, who is the president of Farmers State Bank, said Rawson was already working there when he started working at the bank 38 years ago.

Noting Rawson’s 50^th anniversary with the bank, Vergauwen said they wanted to acknowledge it.

“What we like about our bank is that there are so many people who stay a long time,” he said.

Rawson believes his greatest accomplishment was watching the Waupaca area prosper and expand during the past 50 years.