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LUCAS(785) 525-6445

SYLVAN GROVE(785) 526-7155

Winter 2018Vol. XVI

BSB Celebrates Open House by Honoring Mike Berkley’s 50 years in Banking

Prepare For Your Holiday With Our Christmas Club

Roy Bruna Retirement

The Bennington State Bank recognized Mike Berkley, for 50 years in banking, at their Sa-lina location on Friday, December 15th.Kent M. (Mike) Berkley was born September

26, 1939 in Tescott, Kansas. He graduated from Tescott High School, and was a key member of Tescott High’s 1957 undefeated State Class BB basketball championship team. Mike graduated from the University of Kan-

sas in 1961 with a degree in accounting, and then in 1964 from KU’s law school, where he served on the Kansas Law Review. In late 1967, Mike and his siblings purchased

The Bennington State Bank (BSB) from their prior generation of relatives. Over the past 50 years and under Mike’s

leadership, The Bennington State Bank has grown in asset size from $5 million to ap-proximately $700 million in 2017 with 7 loca-tions and has over 100 employees. Mike and his wife Debbie reside in Salina.

Mike has four children and 15 grandchildren. He is an avid traveler and enjoys scuba diving, skiing and playing basketball with “kids” 50 years his junior.

Mike BerkleyC E L E B R A T I N G

50 YearsIn Banking

December 15th • 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM2130 S. Ohio - Salina, KS

Please join us for an OPEN HOUSE

1967 - 2017

Roy Bruna retired in December 2017 from The Ben-nington State Bank. Roy grew up

in Hanover, a small town in North Central Kansas. After graduating from high school, he attended Fairbury Nebraska Junior College, and then Kansas State University where he graduated in 1971 with a degree in Sec-ondary Education.Roy started working at The Bennington

State Bank in Wamego the summer of 2004 when it was a loan production office. “It has been very rewarding working with the many customers I have come to know (many former students) over the years, and also exciting watching and being involved in the bank’s growth from a loan production office to the new building that we moved into in 2015” says Roy.Roy and his wife, Linda, have been

married for 45 years and have lived in Wamego the entire time. They have 2 daughters; Kristy lives in Clearwater, FL, and Jamie, along with her husband Dave, live in Dodge City, KS with their two children, Charlie and Maren.After retirement, Roy and Linda plan

to travel, spending time in Florida and Dodge City visiting their children and grandchildren.

The holiday season can be stressful for so many reasons: the additional time commit-ments, the extra time spent with your ex-tended family, not to mention the additional financial strain.Planning for the holidays with a clear

budget in mind can at least help with one of those stressors – reducing the financial stress of the holidays. Planning ahead can also re-duce your holiday expenses without making it feel as though you have cut your Christmas back to nothing. To help customers plan ahead for the holi-

days, BSB is offering a Christmas Saving Ac-count. This account is set up to automatically

withdraw money from a checking account each month to help save money for holiday gifts, travel and more.Customers will set an amount they want

to deposit every month. The amount that has been accumulated throughout the year plus interest will be deposited back into your checking account in November, before the holiday season begins.Contact your local

BSB customer service representative for more information.

Mike Berkley and Donna Boss at BSB’s Open House honoring Mike on his 50 years of banking.

BSB Sylvan Grove employees grill hotdogs for attendees of Sylvan Grove’s Community Days. Activities included a quilt raffle for the Sylvan Grove Senior Center, a bike raffle and turtle races.

(top) Brett Mitchell talking to banking school president Tim Koch after class.(bottom) Twins Brian and Kevin Lull attend banking school in Colo-rado. Brian and Kevin are the sons of former BSB President Dennis Lull, and Brian currently works at the Wamego branch.

Denet and Cynthia representing BSB (Salina) at the KWU Job Fair.

BSB employees enjoying the solar eclipse in August.Cheyenne Meyer and children enjoying refreshments at Sylvan Grove’s Open House.

Shay, Debbie and Beth from BSB Salina Ohio branch enjoy a Salina Liberty football game during Chamber After Hours.

Minneapolis’ Cade Rensink presents Farm Show winner Levi Ebert with a Milwaukee Cordless Grease Gun.

St. Mary’s D.A.R.E. essay winners received a $20 Visa gift certifi-cate from BSB. Max Ehrlich (far right) is a BSB customer along with his parents Dr. Jeff and Jeanene. Clark & Garett from BSB (Salina)awarded the top essayists from St. Mary’s Southeast of Saline, and Ell-Saline.

Shay Cox (far right) from the Salina Ohio branch, graduates from Leadership Salina.

BSB Salina employees drop off holiday gifts at the Salina Regional Health Center.

Amy Hiiter and Zach Weis helped Bike Across Kansas cyclists with an “unofficial” water stop near Sylvan Grove, giving out 80 - 100 gallons of water.

BSB sponsored The Reason for Hope Campaign Benefit Concert, rais-ing $3,000 for Hydrocephalus research.

Express Employment Clydesdales at the Sandstone Saloon to kick off the Bennington Rodeo.

Beth Kindall teaches Minneapolis High School seniors, at the school fair, how to protect their identity, credit and money.

Minneapolis BSB employees serve a bank sponsored breakfast at Minneapolis’ Minne-K Days.

Debby, Denise and Stacy from the BSB Minneapolis branch sell tickets at the Ottawa County Fair.

Use any Allpoint ATM with no transaction fees!

Search: Bennington State Bank

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Cody Merrell joined BSB in May 2017 as a teller at the Sa-lina Ohio branch. She is cur-rently learning the duties of a loan processor and will soon move into that role full time. She was raised in Salina, KS

and attended Central High School. Cody has a four year old son, Oliver. In her free time she likes to spend time with her son, swim, boat, hike and camp. Prior to joining BSB, Cody worked in banking for three years. She is “excited to work somewhere that gives it’s employees the chance to grow with the com-pany, and she looks forward to learning and gaining as much experience as possible”.

Eric L. Brown joined BSB in August 2017 as a Trust Officer in the Trust & Wealth Man-agement division at the Salina Ohio branch. He grew up on a farm outside of Brewster, KS, then went on to earn his

B.A. in Communication Studies from FHSU and a M.B.A. from KWU. Eric and his wife, Danielle, have two exuberant and imagina-tive children and in his spare time, Eric is civically engaged as a volunteer with several local non-profits. Prior to joining BSB, he worked for the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, where he gained community and economic development experience. He “looks forward to strengthening BSB’s Trust and Wealth Management relationship with the communities BSB serves and assisting clients reach their long-term financial goals”.

David George joined BSB in August 2017 as a Trust & Wealth Management Officer at the Salina Ohio branch. David was born and raised in Salina, KS and graduated from Salina South High School. He played

golf for FHSU for several years before trans-ferring to KSU where he majored in Financial Planning. David and his wife, Nicole, have a three year old boy, Grayson. In his free time, David enjoys golf, bow hunting, spending time with his family, and reading. Prior to joining BSB, David was a Financial Advisor in McPherson where he specialized in retire-ment planning. He “is looking forward to helping current and future customers begin planning for their financial futures”.

Susan Young joined BSB in July 2005 and is Vice Presi-dent and the HR Officer at the Salina Ohio branch. She is a graduate of KWU with a B.A. in Business Administra-tion. Susan’s career in bank-

ing has spanned over 25 years and she has most recently worked for BSB as a Loan Officer. Susan is married to Dan and they have four adult children and five grand-children. She is actively involved as a board member of CKF and enjoys spending time with family and friends. What Susan loves most about working for BSB is “the feeling that what I do matters. Working for a community bank that truly cares for its customers, employees and shareholders is the cornerstone of a great culture”.

Donna Kierscht joined BSB in May 1997 and is a cus-tomer service representative as well as head teller at the Bennington branch. She has been married to her hus-band, Craig, for 32 years, and

they have four children and five grandchil-dren. In her free time she loves spending time with her family (especially the grand-kids!), quilting, gardening, and watching KU basketball! RCJH! What Donna loves most about working for BSB is “working with her coworkers and knowing that our customers appreciate the personal service that they get here at BSB”.

Paul Shumaker joined BSB in August 2017 as a teller at the Wamego branch. He moved to Wamego, KS from Carson City, NV, and is originally from South Lake Tahoe, CA. While in Elementary school, his

family moved to Nevada. After high school, he attended college at Western Nevada Col-lege for two years. While living in Nevada he met his current girlfriend, Ash. They came to Wamego for the Fourth of July to visit her family and decided to move here. In his free time he enjoys watching football and videog-raphy. He “is looking forward to helping the people of Wamego in the future”.

New EmployeesFeatured Employees

Janie Struble RetirementJanie Struble

Cooper retired in July 2017 after 22 years at The Bennington State Bank’s Benning-ton location. During her time with the bank she worked as a teller, bookkeep-er and customer

service representative, with an emphasis on serving customers. Customers loved to visit and reminisce with her while doing their banking business.

Janie is a life long resident of the Bennington community, and is well known in town. Her calm demeanor and willingness to do just about anything endeared her to customers and fellow employees. She would (and still does) go out of her way to help anyone. She has served the town and county since

she was a teenager, working 15 years at Keith’s Floral and Greenhouse in Minneapolis, before her time with BSB.Janie is married to Art Cooper, and they

have two sons, Andy and Aaron, and four grandchildren. In her free time Janie loves to garden, cook,

read, and decorate. She is a major force with the Bennington High School Alumni Com-

mittee, and Bennington Fire Department Auxiliary. She is looking forward to devot-ing more time to each of these projects, but especially doting on her grandchildren. Janie already misses her customers and

peeks her head in occasionally to check up on her friends at the bank.