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The 50th anniversary of the Enderby and District Credit Union was a special event for more than 5000 account holders. On Saturday, June 28, 1997 two hundred people gathered for a barbecue to celebrate the anniversary.

Keith Armstrong has been the manager of the Enderby Credit Union for more than 20 years.

"It's a great place to work. The philosophy of the Credit Union is people helping people," Armstrong said.He points out his office window, to the Enderby Home-makers office on Highway 97A.

"There were just two of us in that office, and there wasn't even a vault," he commented, "and Grace and I are still gere. Grace Lundquist is now a loans officer, transferring back to Enderby when Grindros Credit Union was closed earlier this year. "The third employee was Dee and the fourth was Marilyn," Armstrong noted. Dee Wejr is the administrative assistant and Marilyn Hareuther is loans manager. Today there are 16 full and part-time employees.

"The first year I was here our assets were just over half a million. By this year end we will have exceeded 25 million," Armstrong pointed out.

Lynne Garrod is the President of Board of Directors for the Credit Union. "This Credit Union has had a great impact on members and has met the needs of this community," Garrod said.

The difference between Credit Unions and banks is that "We address smaller needs. If somebody needs a $100 loan or a $500 loan, most banks can't help, but we can. We're a member organization," she commented. Other members of the board of directors are: Don Wells, Wayne McLeod, Roy Wallis, Ken Case and Alvin Raboch.

To mark the 50th anniversary the Enderby and District Credit Union has been socking away cash for the last three years. They have committed $50,000 towards building a performing arts center at A.L.Fortune Secondary School. The arts center is part of the proposed addition to the secondary school.

"Unfortunately that hasn't happened," reported Garrod. She is optimistic that the Ministry of Education will loosen the purse strings which will allow A.L. Fortune to go ahead with their proposed expansion. Currently the Credit Union is petitioning the public to support the expansion.

The Credit Union had announced a few months ago that if the funding for the expansion was not secured in the near future, they may have to put the anniversary fund toward some other project. Other groups have requested the funds, but Garrod said the Credit Union is still waiting for word on the school expansion.

Anyone entering the Credit Union within the last month would have noticed some picture testimonials. The photographs of members were taken by Wayne McLeod.

From 1958 the McLeod's were in charge of rumming the Credit Union. George William McLeod took up the cause of the local Credit Union after spending two terms as Member of Parliament for the Okanagan Revelstoke riding.

Wayne McLeod explains: "The Credit Union was a very small operation providing only share-savings accounts and personal loans. The 'office' consisted of a single desk drawer. This caused great consternation to the inspector who would stop in for a surprise visit to count cash and check the records. He'd be invited to have a seat at the desk, shown the drawer and encouraged to do his thing, without benefit of an adding machine or calculator".

I knew that once chequing accounts came on stream I wouldn't be able to manage both the credit union and my business - so I resigned and Keith Armstrong succeeded me. It was Keith who introduced chequing and replaced the single adding machine - with five second-hand accounting machines purchased from Revelstoke Credit Union.

"My father took the operation from almost scratch to about $125,000 in assets; when I left, assets were approaching $800,000. Today, with two branches, $23 million in assets and over 4,500 members our credit union is the major financial institution serving this area."

Wayne McLeod retired from business in 1989 but like his father, he stays active in politics. From 1968 to 1970 he served as Enderby's mayor; he completed a three-year term as city alderman in 1993 and was again elected mayor last December.

Through the early years, the Credit Union operated mainly as a savings account ans personal loans, but did not offer checking services. As the Credit Union expanded and customers demanded a more sophisticated form of banking, McLeod stepped aside, opting to run his own family business, and Keith Armstrong was hired.

A new logo was unveiled at the celebration over the weekend. Dee Wejr designed the new logo that will be used; it depicts the Enderby Cliffs and the Shuswap River.

Retiring manager Keith Armstrong was presented with a water colour painting by local artist Jaime Seward.

Lisa McKnight-Yeates
Enderby Commoner 1997