My mother and stepfather continued to live on the farm until February, 1960, at which time they moved to a small house in Wellman. Chester again took up the occupation of a lumber man cutting saw logs and firewood. He continued to do this until about two years ago. My mother died in 1984. Chester remarried about three years ago and continues to raise a large garden. His heart continues giving him a lot of trouble and he doesn't ever want to slow down.

I enrolled at AIB in Des Moines in August, 1955. One weekend in Wellman after church Stan Barber visited with me and asked if I had or would consider working in a bank, i.e., the Wellman Savings Bank. He invited me to stop in and look over the place and discuss the job possibilities. My first day was March 15, 1956. Early duties consisted of tellering, running proof batches, balancing the bank and loan posting. I became Assistant Cashier January 14, 1958, Cashier January 10, 1961, a Director March 3, 1963, Vice President and Cashier and Trust Officer January 9, 1968, Senior Vice President and Cashier and Trust Officer January 10, 1978, and was Executive Vice President and Cashier and Trust Officer at the time Wellman Savings Bank became an office of Security Savings Bank of Williamsburg on March 29, 1993. The entire holding company (Cornerstone, consisting of four banks) is being purchased by First Tier of Omaha.

During these 37 years there were many changes including the conversion from mechanical (and pen and ink) bookkeeping systems to computer systems. The computer system became my responsibility as well as most of the tax related accounting, bank security, trust accounting for the bank's retirement plans and IRA customer accounts as well as involved in the loan function. Working in a small bank gets you involved in most every activity. Perhaps that's what made working at WSB so much fun. What didn't make it fun was attempting to keep up and comply with all the regulations that came one after another over the years. We have an extensive alphabet of letters for the various regulations. Regs B,D,E,J,O,Q,& Z come quickly to mind.

All employees were offered positions with the new bank. My new position was that of a loan officer with a reduction in salary and fringe benefits supposedly with a reduction in work hours. Additional retirement benefits would not accrue for another one and one-half years. My original goal was to retire at 60. Considering the new changes including the "make work" projects, no reduction in work hours and not being informed of what was going on I decided to hang it up early and do volunteer work a few years earlier than I planned.

At the time I enrolled at AIB I was talked into joining the Air National Guard in Des Moines (that's the unit that VP Keith Fenton belonged to) as obtaining a job without having one's military obligation in hand was very difficult (remember our two eighth grade teachers getting drafted). The initial plan was to spend the required six years and get out. One thing led to another and 25 years later I retired as a Major in the Army Reserve. In the enlisted ranks I was a Mechanics Helper, Light Truck Driver and Company Clerk. As an officer I was an Armored Cavalry Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, Training Officer, Battalion S1, AMEDS MOS instructor and MOS Department Director at time of retirement.

Summer Camps were in some not very exotic places such as Casper, WY; Camp Haven, WI; Camp Claybanks, MI; Camp Ripley, MN; Camp Grayling, MI; Fort Knox, KY; Fort Leonardwood, MO; Fort McCoy, WI; Fort Riley, KS; Fort Leavenworth, KS and Sandia Base/Kirtland Air Force Base East, NM. Also had a couple of flood duty assignments in Wapello and Muscatine.

1960 was a big year. I graduated from the Iowa Bankers Ag Credit School at Iowa State University in July, the Iowa Military Academy in August and on September 11th was married to Pat. We had met three years earlier when she was a student at St. Lukes School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids. We were set up on a blind date by friends. Pat has worked at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City (about six months after graduation) and for the VA Medical Center in Iowa City full or part-time during most of that time except when our boys were born. She had retired for about five years but took up the profession a couple of years ago at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City in their registry program where she has to work two days during a two week period. They can call her when they need help and she can to or not as she wishes. This winter they talked her into becoming an Assistant Director of Nursing during the night shift every other week end. She seems to like that very well.

Jeff graduated from the University of Iowa with a BS and Masters in Accounting. He's married and living in West Des Moines working for FAWN Industries as an Accountant. The company makes, sells and leases vending machines and is involved in real estate. Rod graduated from UI in Chemical Engineering and just received he PHD from the University of Washington in Seattle. He's married and just moved to Santa Fe and started work with the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He will be doing research on the fuel cell funded by the Department of Energy and General Motors.

1966 was the first year I coached summer baseball. The first three years were with 13-14 year olds and we played in a league with Kinross, Keota, Keswick, Sigourney and North English. Then we joined the Tri County League with the towns of Kalona, Hills, Lone Tree and Washington as we switched from Pony League to Babe Ruth and could have 15 year olds also. When Jeff entered Little League (ages 11-12) I began coaching that team and he and I eventually coached Little League together when he was in High School. That was really fun! I didn't keep records as to wins/losses, but we often won our league or were very close. One of our Babe Ruth teams won the state tournament, but lost in Kansas City.

Flying became an interest because of a brother-in-law. I first soloed a Cessna 120 July 1, 1965, received my Private License in a Piper Cherokee 140 on July 19, 1966, my Instrument Rating June 22, 1971, Multi-engine Rating April 17, 1974, and Commercial (multi) License April 26, 1976. Other planes flown are a Cessna 140, 150, 172, 182 & 310 and Piper Cherokee 235 and Archer. A total of 1,550 hours of flying time have been accumulated up to about seven years ago when our airplane was crashed by a renter pilot and we decided not to replace it. Our family has enjoyed flights to many places for personal and for business purposes. We enjoyed the Bahamas, but perhaps the most memorable was the flight to Alaska with the three Borup males. We flew with eight other planes and visited places such as Watson Lake & Whitehorse, YT; Skagway, Valdez, Homer, Anchorage, Telkeetna, McKinley Park, Fairbanks, Bettles, Barrow, Deadhorse, AK; Inuvik, Dawson City, Norman Wells, Ft. Franklin, Ft. Simpson, NWT. Another memorable flight was to Denver just after the new instrument rating was in hand and we had to make our first real instrument landing at Denver Stapleton on Runway 26L with a ceiling of 300 feet.

Pat and I were married in Wellman at Asbury United Methodist Church and we have been regular attendees and participants. I was Church Treasurer for five years, Finance Chairman 1969, Scholarship Chairman for 12 years, Chairman of the Board of Trustees 1971-73 and 1982-84, Vice Chairman/Chairman Administrative Board 1974/1975, Lay Member to Annual Conference 1979-81, Group Leader of ACTION (work camps) 1985-92 and Lay Leader 1986-90. Our work camps have taken us to KY, TN, VA, AR, OK, & MI with organizations such as Appalachia Service Project, Heifer Project, Cookson Hills Center and Habitat for Humanity.

I became a Rotarian in 1969 maintaining perfect attendance. I was Club President in 1974-75, Bulletin Editor a total of five years, Exchange Student Committee Chairman for 12 years, Rotary Foundation Chairman for five years and am a Paul Harris Fellow. Additionally I have served about nine years on the conducting inbound student orientations. Our family has hosted seven of the 15 students hosted by our club. I have also served as District Governor Area Representative for the past three years.

As a small town banker you get to be treasurer of most of the organizations to which you belong. This has included organizations like the community club, golf club, investment club, etc. I was elected to the Wellman City Council in 1965 and re-elected in 1969. Our big claim to fame during that period was almost total revamping of the water system including a new water tower and the construction of a new city park. We received a matching grant from the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and I was appointed the construction coordinator. The principal duty was to submit billings for work accomplished in order to receive the matching funds. I remember the stack of paperwork stood about a foot high at completion.

The first volunteering I mentioned earlier turned out to be at the International Headquarters of Habitat for Humanity in Americus, GA from October 15, 1993, to March 25, 1994. I lived in an RV while there and worked in the Finance Office doing accountant work such as working with the computer system, adding and deleting BL accounts, cleaning up account names and print layouts, account reconciliation's, fixed asset accounting and various annual audit reports. This was my first contact with the South and I found it to be enjoyable. Georgians are friendly.

I'm back at Wellman helping a life-long friend, Dennis Berger, with the Spring planting. He's a no-till farmer so it's really different than what I grew up with on the farm.

During the winter months of 1995 and 1996 I again volunteered with Habitat for Humanity at Americus, GA working in the Finance Department. During the springs and falls of 1994-96 I helped a farmer friend with his farming.

In the fall of 1995 I was nominated to become Rotary District Governor of District 6000 for the Rotary year, 1997-98. This volunteer position requires about a year of preparation and then the year in office. District 6000 consists the southern portion of Iowa from the Mississippi River from Missouri as far north as Clinton, Iowa City, Marshalltown, and Ames and goes west except for the two western tiers of counties. There were 60 clubs with approximately 4,500 members.

The primary duty of the DG was to make an "Official Visit" to each club between July 1st and December 31st. Each club visit consists of reviewing past and future projects and making recommendations to improve their overall program. Pat was also included in these visits as well as a number of other meetings and programs. We were able (especially Pat) to see a lot of Iowa that we didn't know about. While I was meeting with club officers and members she was being escorted around being shown the best sides of the community. We used our travel trailer as a portable office and hotel to facilitate these visits.

Rotary trips outside Iowa included our training (both of us) in Skokie, IL and Anaheim, CA; the Rotary International Conventions in Calgary, Canada and Glasgow, Scotland; and a Rotary Project Fair in Antigua, Guatemala, including a side tour with other district Rotarians. Being a Rotary District Governor was quite an experience for an Iowa farm boy. We were treated very well and learned to know a lot of new people in Iowa as well as other parts of our world.

Pascagoula, MS. These vehicles were loaded with used medical and fire equipment and supplies no longer useable here for use in Guatemala. The vehicles were loaded on a latex boat to be shipped across the Gulf of Mexico to Guatemala. This makes about 300 tons of supplies (not including the vehicles) sent to Central American countries during the past seven years.

After June 30, 1998, our lives returned to a more normal routine. I continue to be involved in Rotary, but to a much lessor extent. I returned to the spring and fall farm work and returning to Habitat for Humanity in Georgia in winters. Pat continues to work part time as an Assistant Director of Nursing at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.

Our oldest son, Jeff, is working as Administrative Director for CemenTech, a manufacturer of small cement mixers, located in Indianola. Brittany is in 1st grade and Briana goes to day care. Pam is an underwriter for Welmark (formerly Blue Cross & Blue Shield).

In the interim our number two son, Rod, moved to Rochester, NY, to continue fuel research with General Motors, but this August moved back to New Mexico to again work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory doing the same.

Pat and I are looking forward to seeing all of you at our May 27th reunion!

Home | Class of 1955 | Update This Page