1979 had not been a good year. The Three Mile Island plant had imploded throwing the Nuclear Power Industry into turmoil. Russia invaded Afghanistan sending ripples of fighting that continues to this day. Americans were taken hostage in Iran, and the country seemed impotent to get their release, and gas prices soared due to oil… Read more »

“I had a little Bird Its name was Enza I opened up the window and In flew Enza” In 1918 a terrible world flu outbreak occurred. In America alone, over 600,000 folks passed. Dr. Joseph Smiddy shared with me that he had asked his great aunt about the times and the impact on folks in… Read more »

As a kid growing up in Appalachia, the woods (nature) were like a second home. Traipsing up and down hollows, ridges, being in the woods was as natural, well as nature. I was around 8 or 9 year of age walking down a mountain road from my uncle’s  house when about 50 or so yards… Read more »

Have you ever tried to do something that was very hard for you but seemed easy for others? Maybe it was learning to play an instrument. Solve a math problem. Ride a bike. Work a farm tractor. I suspect that frustration welled up in you-internal doubt about your capabilities. Maybe even anger! Perhaps this was made… Read more »

How much time is in a day? Your phone, watch (if you still wear one), Fitbit all say 24 hours. But we all know that a “day” is really 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds don’t we? I have always been fascinated by things like time and its creation of leap year. How is it that… Read more »

With the recent tragic accident of the helicopter crash in California, my mind has turned to basketball. As a young fellow, basketball was my sport. I emulated my favorite player, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and perfected the hook shoot – a shot that allowed me to play against taller players and frustrated my opponents. The perfection… Read more »

Last weekend was a “honey do” weekend, with my wife reminding me of little projects that could be undertaken on a cold, football-less weekend in January. Around 3:00 PM on Saturday, my wife notified me that a pole had fallen near our neighbor’s home. The power and WIFI was working, so while curious about the… Read more »

What if we had no (or limited) competition? That is hard to imagine when we think about how many other Banks, Credit Unions, Insurance Companies offering CDs, Investment Brokers, Car Finance Companies and online Fintechs we compete with today. Would you believe me if I told you there was a time when state banking laws… Read more »

I recently read an article that talked about the number of banks in the U.S. decreasing from 11,971 to 5,362 since 1995. This article appeared in July 2019, and I have seen a number of announcements (including several in Virginia) since – thus my 5,300 some guesstimate. I would note that when I started working at… Read more »

My how time flies. 20 years ago at this time of year, bankers (including me) were very worried about what would happen when the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999. We, like many banks, had literally millions of dollars in cash in our vaults. Some customers had taken their funds out of the bank in… Read more »