Local man retires after 47 years at Edmonton State Bank

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW June 17, 2009 11:56 am

— After nearly 47 years at Edmonton State Bank in Edmonton, Dello Jessie is retiring.
“It would have been 47 years on August 16,” he said Monday.
Jessie started working at the bank when the operation was almost completely manual.
“There were seven people working when I started,” he said. “Now, I believe, there’s about 160. It’s grown tremendously and everything’s done by computer now. Some of it was hard to get used to, some of it was easy. It’s been so much, that looking back on it, each change was just simply another day’s work. Just one more thing to get through so we could help the customers.”
Jessie worked up through the years, starting as a teller.
“I started as a teller and a bookkeeper,” he said. “I’ve been in loans since 1968, but I’ve done almost every job since I started.”
What he’ll do with his time off will be mostly up to his wife, Jessie said.
“She’s got a lot of ‘honey, do’ jobs for me,” he joked. “I might get my boat out, might travel a little.”
The Northwest area of the country would be first on that list, as it is the only area Jessie and his wife haven’t been yet.
Jessie has been married to his wife, Linda, since a month after he started working at the bank and has one surviving daughter, Donna Emberton and five grandchildren, who will keep him busy during his retirement.
“I’m still a little apprehensive about retiring,”he said. “I’ll miss it, but a man needs to retire while he can still enjoy it. For 46 years I’ve been getting up and going to work. It’s time for a change for myself, I guess.”
Jessie said he enjoyed associating with the people he met while working at the bank and expects that he will meet more interesting people in his travels.
“I’ve enjoyed working here,” he said. “I guess when you stay busy and enjoy it, it makes the time go by faster. I appreciate how good everybody’s been to me. It’s made life here a pleasure.”