Following a mentally and physically tiring few weeks, I recently ventured to our home office in Jonesville to work with our folks on plans for our Annual Shareholders Meeting in April. A beautiful drive through a scenic region set the tone for the day.
Throughout the day I had the pleasure of social distanced visiting with people at the office and the Operations Center. It was good to catch up with these hard working folks.
Then the sun came out.
Amidst a cold and dark winter, the shining sun was a spirit lifter as I walked to my car at 5:30 to head back to Wise and home. It had been a very good day.
As I pulled out of the Bank driveway, the sun shining brightly, I shaded my eyes trying to see if any cars were coming down Main Street from the courthouse. To my left, a car was coming, turning left onto the street I would be going to.
I sat there briefly, and the lady, knowing I had a challenge seeing through the bright sun light, waved me on. I saw her mouth the words, “after you.”
Jonesville is about as far west in Virginia as you can go. (I say “about” because you have another thirty or so miles to the Kentucky and Tennessee state lines at the Cumberland Gap.)
The area has had the double whammy of two industries going away – Tobacco and Coal. Yet the treatment of a stranger with small kindness lives on every day.
We are expanding as a Bank. With new folks, we talk about our approach to banking (and life). The new folks who come on board may not have lived in or been born in Lee County, but they have the same philosophy of life.
So, after you.
It is the least I can do to show the care and concern that is engrained in a 133-year-old Community Bank.
Stay safe and get your vaccine.
– Leton
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“Letters From Leton” is a blog series comprised of the weekly updates that Leton Harding – President, Chairman, and CEO of Powell Valley National Bank, shares with the Bank’s team members. These newsletters are full of uplifting anecdotes and intriguing insights that are applicable beyond the Bank, so we want to share them with you.
