Staff photo by Fritz Busch Citizens Bank Minnesota Client Service Representative Sharon Nordby of New Ulm is pictured near her work space. Passing the 59-year mark Jan. 15, she continues to work at the bank part-time.

NEW ULM — If you’ve been to Citizens Bank Minnesota any time over the last few decades, you’ve probably met Sharon Nordby.

She fondly remembers looking for work in 1967 when she and her husband Dennis lived in Sleepy Eye.

“I went to New Ulm on a Thursday morning and applied at Citizens State Bank of New Ulm, 3M, and State Bond. I got a call that afternoon from Citizens State Bank, asking if I could start working Monday morning,” she said. “I took the full-time teller job. We put everything on paper. All daily transactions went to bookkeeping where everything including, cash and cashier’s and interest checks was balanced using a (10-key) adding machine.”

Nordby said checks were sorted by name before they were posted to accounts.

She compared her job decades ago to today.

“It’s quite different now. Just about everything is direct deposited now. Bills can be paid by the bank and debited to client accounts,” said Nordby.

In 1989, she was promoted to operations office/assistant cashier. The job included supervising teller operations, vault management and security. She also served on the management team before retiring from full-time work after 45 years in 2011. She has no plans to fully retire after 59 years of service at the bank.

“I’ve worked with so many wonderful people. It’s been an interesting career,” said Nordby. “Some people ask me why I don’t completely retire. Part-time work gets me out of the house. I work whenever they need help, often during lunch time, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s been fun. I’ll keep working as long as they need help.”

She was inducted into the Pioneer Bankers Club at the Minnesota Banker’s Association Annual Summit in 2018. The award recognizes and honors bankers with 50 or more years of service.

Nordby spends much of her time now quilting and embroidering, spending time with her grandchildren and volunteering at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. She and her husband Dennis, who retired at Kraft Foods, traveled extensively including Hawaii and Costa Rica.

“We’ve been to Hawaii the most,” said Nordby.