Suzanne Freeman officially retired from BankPlus after 38 years.
She has enjoyed a great career working at the bank in different capacities and has grown to love her work family since she has worked with them for so long.
“I was working in the payroll department at Quitman Knitting Mill, and a friend of mine called and told me to come put my application in. I did, and I started February 2, 1987,” Suzanne reminisced. “At that time, we were Southeast Mississippi Bank. I was over in the building that is now Quitman School District. We were in operations, and I worked back there until we were purchased in October of 1994 and became BankPlus. At that time, operations was all moved to a central location in the Jackson area, so I was transferred to the branch in Stonewall. I worked there for probably 20 years and came back here for several years and then went back to Stonewall. I was actually working at the Stonewall location when it closed, so I’ve been back down here since the Stonewall location closed. I worked in different capacities: operations, customer service, branch manager, teller. I’ve done just a little bit of it all. It doesn’t really seem like it’s been 38 years, and I’ve made good memories. Some of my best friends are here now. Two of the people that I started with in 1987 and have worked with the whole time are still here: Kay Mosley and Jenny Brady. They were in operations when I started, and they’re still working here. Most of our employees are long-time employees. There may just be one that hasn’t been here for at least 15-20 years. It’s been a good ride, and I’ve made some amazing friends that will continue to be my friends even when I’m not here. I told them I will continue checking in with them.”
The title she held when she decided to retire was senior relationship banker.
Of course, while she has loved each title and position that she has worked at the bank, there is one job that was her favorite over the years.
“I loved working in operations,” declared Suzanne. “Even though we’re in the background and I didn’t get to see the customers, I just loved doing that. I love my customers, too, but I just loved working operations. I’ll always be glad I worked there first because when I got on this side of banking, I understood what was happening to all the work that everybody was doing because we processed it over there.”
Her customers and the relationships she was able to build with them over the years make up some of her greatest memories at the bank.
“Some of my favorite memories were from the time I worked in Stonewall because I grew up in Stonewall and knew all my customers,” expressed Suzanne. “They were some of the sweetest customers I’ve ever had. It was easy knowing people, and they knew me. They knew my parents and family, and I knew their families. That was some of my best times when I was up there. I’ve had good times here in Quitman, too, but I loved my time in Stonewall. I think the big thing there was just feeling like my customers were part of my family since I grew up there and knew them well.”
There have been many changes in banking since she first started working there.
“There’ve been so many changes that I couldn’t even count them,” recalled Suzanne. “When I first started in operations, there were no such things as debit cards. You wrote a check for everything, and we would hand file your paper checks. Each customer had a little account. We would hand file their checks, and at the end of the month, we would have to count all their checks to make sure it matched up to what their statement said. Everything went out in the mail. There was no online banking or anything like that. It was all paper. We kept a lot of ledgers that were handwritten. You didn’t just pull everything up on the computer. The only thing we would really look at would be a balance. We stuffed all those statements every month and had our own postage machine. They would have girls that did that, and there would be two big crates of statements going to the post office. When we first came out with a card, it was just an ATM card where you could go get cash. Then, they gradually came around with debit cards. When BankPlus bought us, we quit mailing out the checks and went to check imaging. That was a big adjustment for our customers. It’s been 38 years, so there have been a lot of changes in banking.”
Although the decision wasn’t easy to make, she decided the time had come to retire.
“I just wanted to be able to have some good times while I’m still in good health and spend time doing things without being on a schedule,” informed Suzanne. “I worried about it and stressed over it before I told them I was going to retire. I think they knew. After I told them, it was almost like a weight lifted off my shoulder. I just had a peace about it. After that, I knew I made the right decision.”
The only plan she really has now is to spend as much time as she can with her family and to just enjoy herself.
“I don’t really have any definite plans,” explained Suzanne. “I’m going to spend more time with my mother and stepmother since they are still living and in good health. We have grandchildren that are involved in a lot of sports, and thank goodness they all go to the same school, at Enterprise. I just want to spend time with my family overall and not be on that day-to-day schedule. I’m just going to take it one day at a time. It’s going to be a transition for sure, and I hope it’ll be a good, easy transition. I’m going to have to get used to it because I’ve worked at the bank for over half my life.”
Congratulations on retirement after 38 great years at BankPlus!
