December 2015 - Oklahoma Heritage Bank

Volume 8, Issue 6
December 2015
The Wrangler Newsletter
Christmas:
The Grinch
Can’t Steal
Christmas
In 1957, Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel published his
classic illustrated children's book, How the Grinch Stole
Christmas!. He describes and draws the Grinch as a
grouchy, cave-dwelling green monster who is angered
and annoyed by noisy Christmas Eve festivities in
Whoville, home of the merry and warm-hearted Whos.
The Grinch decides to stop their Christmas celebrations
by stealing their presents, trees, and food. On Christmas
Eve he disguises himself as Santa Claus and his dog as a
reindeer before raiding Whoville where he steals all of
the Whos' Christmas presents and the Christmas tree.
The Grinch then takes his sleigh to the top of a mountain
to dump all the presents into a deep canyon at the dawn
of Christmas morning. He expects to hear the Whos'
cries of anger and disappointment. But as the sun rises
on Christmas Day, instead of wails he hears joyous
Christmas songs coming from Whoville. He is confused
not to hear what he expected: cries and moans over the
missing presents, trees, and Christmas food. “Then the
Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if
Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What
if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!” Then
the Grinch began to realize that Christmas is just not
about receiving presents and he returns everything he
stole from the Whos. He is warmly invited to the Whos'
homes for a true Christmas celebration.
As Christmas approaches, our thoughts often turn to
gift-giving. Especially for the kids, visions of colorfully
wrapped presents surrounding the Christmas tree fill
them with wonder and anticipation. Sharing holiday
gifts adds to the joy of the season as the Grinch surely
understood when he set about on his Machiavellian
scheme to steal the presents from warm and friendly people of Whoville. But the Grinch was astonished and his
understanding of Christmas transformed when he realized that for the people of Whoville, the spirit of
Christmas was simply symbolized by the giving of gifts
and that the Grinch’s thievery could not destroy or even
dampen the Spirit of Christmas for Whoville.
We all have known the simple joy that comes from
giving to others. Most of us have heard the saying, ‘It is
more blessed to give than to receive’, perhaps without
knowing that these words are from the Scriptures: Acts
20:35 (NIV). Indeed, I expect that we have given our
children and grandchildren this same advice. Gifting is
sharing, as we lead our children to understand the true
meaning of gift giving at Christmas time, as well as
throughout the year.
Of course, as parents we can buy the gifts for our
children to give, but somehow this gift-by-proxy misses
the selflessness of giving. In years past our family
encouraged gifts of a very personal and, in fact, priceless
kind, such as ‘homemade’ objects, tickets backed by the
kids’ promises for special services or tasks throughout
the year (car washing, lawn mowing, breakfast in bed,
artistic drawings by the kids, framed letters and stories,
homemade cookies and candies, etc.) All of these gifts
were inexpensive, but were special in the way that the
young giver was making a commitment to sharing. And
a gift can also be a gift of time, time spent visiting a
friend, time spent on a letter or card, time spent on a
phone call, or just time together.
We can all learn from the Grinch’s experience in
Whoville. It’s not the gifts that bring the Spirit of
Christmas but the sharing and caring that we all wish to
continue throughout the year. And best summed in
Nicolette Larson’s song lyrics to ‘Christmas is a Time for
Giving’ (2012) Christmas is a time for caring and
sharing. It is the most forgiving time of the year, a time
where everyone comes together to love and share with
one another.
R. Darryl Fisher, MD
Chief Executive Officer and
Chairman of the Board
Chance Branscum Tells
About His Ada Background
and Joining OHB as VP
OHB VP/Chief Lender Billy Norton (l.) congratulates Chance
Branscum during his first week as OHB Asst VP/Lender. Chance
graduated from Ada High and East Central and joins OHB with
seven years’ experience in community banking in the Ada area.
I was born in Ada to Jeff and Cathleen Branscum
in the late 80s, so that I guess that makes me a
Millennial or a member of the Y generation. I have
lived in the Ada area my whole life where I spent most
of my childhood playing sports and hanging around
my family’s lumberyard ‘Branscum Lumber’ doing
part-time jobs that my grandparents, J.D. and Amelia
Branscum, supervised. I attended Homer Elementary
where my mother, Cathleen, taught for 25 years. In
order to play football, I moved to Ada schools in the
sixth grade, and I played football and baseball for
three years, graduating in in 2002. My junior year, we
were state runners-up in football and state champions
in baseball. In 2008 I enrolled at ECU where I met my
wife. Kelcie, who was also working towards her
business degree. We married in 2010 and graduated
from ECU together in 2012. Our two-year-old son,
Colten, was born one year later. We live in Ada.
Kelcie works for the Chickasaw Nation and will also
be earning her M.B.A. degree this month.
I started my banking career at the same time I
started attending ECU in 2008. Originally, I hadn’t
considered making a career out of it, but as I gained
experience, attended banking seminars and courses,
and took on additional responsibilities, my work at the
bank transformed from a job into a career goal of a
community banker in or around Ada. I am thankful for
the opportunity to be asked to be a part of the
Oklahoma Heritage family.
Tompkins Motors in Pauls Valley
has been an OHB friend and neighbor for many years,
and recently OHB Chief Credit Officer Billy Norton
(l.), OHB President Dustin Riddle (r.), and OHB
Chairman/CEO Darryl Fisher (2nd from r.) visited
owner Joe Dale Tompkins (2nd from l.) at his office
and lot at 1551 Grant in Pauls Valley (405-238-4646).
Over lunch in Pauls Valley, Joe Dale explained how he
has been providing customer-oriented service for car
and truck buyers for two decades in this location. Joe
Dale and his son who is General Manager specialize in
focused buying of the model, make, year, and
equipment of the car/truck that their customers wish,
fulfilling their company’s motto: “If we don’t have it,
we’ll get it.” Through their extensive network of auto
sources in Oklahoma and Texas, Joe Dale and Shawn
can usually find the exact car or truck that their customers have in mind within a couple of weeks.
Tompkins Motors’ solid reputation of service and fair
pricing has grown their business with repeat customers
and word-of-mouth advertising for new customers.
Joe Dale is also a devoted sports fan, coaching little
league teams for 25 years – his sons’ baseball and his
daughter’s softball teams in Purcell.
http://www.tompkinsmotors.com/list.php
OHB’s Skip-A-Loan
Payment Can Help with
Christmas Expenses
Christmas, is just around the corner. Christmas,
you feel it in the air. (So sings Barry Manilow). And
also are holiday expenses just around the corner.
OHB’s Skip-A-Loan Payment plan can free up some
cash for these holiday expenses just around the
corner for its loan customers. The loan-paymentskipping opportunity provides for the customer to
skip a monthly payment for auto and personal loans,
as an easy way to get some extra cash in the family
budget for the holiday season. OHB’s Skip-APayment program can put some breathing room into
your budget without impacting your credit rating, by
giving you the chance to skip a monthly payment on
an OHB auto or personal loan, and to add that
amount to the end of your loan.
The way the Skip-A-Payment plan works is that
OHB simply advances your next payment’s due date
to the month following your skipped payment. You
get to keep your cash that you would have used for
that month’s loan payment, and use it for whatever
you want.
Check with us at any of our four locations. We’d
be pleased to help you with this service. Certain
restrictions and fees apply (the Skip-a-Payment plan
is not available for mortgage loans).
Reflections on the
Promotion of Julia Jack
to Manager of OHB-Ada
by Dustin Riddle, President/COO.
Recently appointed Manager of OHB-Ada location Julia Jack
stands with VP/Chief Lender Billy Norton in front of the Teller
station in the lobby of the Ada bank. Julia has just completed her
first year at OHB, bringing with her two decades of experience in
various positions at local community banks.
What started eighteen months ago as OHB’s fourth
location was a three person Loan Production Office that
has now grown to a ten-person staff of a full-service
banking facility in a spacious corner location in North
Hills Shopping Center. Any growing business provides
many opportunities and requires many assets, and OHB
has proved this business axiom to be true. And opportunity presented itself to OHB when Julia Jack came to
OHB just at the right time as we opened the doors to
OHB’s newly remodeled space in August, 2004.
During the past year, Julia has worked with the
OHB-Ada team, managing the growing business for
OHB that has exceeded all our best-case expectations.
The Ada community has shown overwhelming
support for OHB, and the continued growth of Ada has
provided opportunities not only for Julia, but also for all
OHB employees as well as those friends and neighbors
that OHB serves as a bank. As a result of Julia’s
banking experience and knowledge, as well as her
customer-first service approach, Julia was appointed as
OHB-Ada’s Branch Manager in October, just about a
year to the day that she joined the OHB family.
Julia grew up in Fittstown and graduated from East
Central University with a Bachelor of Science degree,
concentrating in Marketing. She and her husband Troy
have two children, 18-year-old Barrick and
17-year-old Natalie. Troy works in the Chickasaw
Department of Commerce. In 1993 Julia began her
banking career in local banks, gaining a wide range of
experience with supervising tellers, new accounts,
marketing, investments, cash-management services,
and overseeing a portfolio of commercial and consumer
loans . . . all of which she uses in her duties and responsibilities at OHB. Julia’s extensive banking experience
has become an important asset and opportunity for
OHB that is continuing to grow at our Ada location.
Home Cookin’
in Pat’s Kitchen*
Stratford Daylight Donuts
Opens Across from OHB
Biscotti – Italian cookies
Pheakdey Kong (r.) (Manager of Stratford Daylight Donuts)
welcomes OHB-Stratford Fred Stephens to the newly opened
franchise of Daylight Donuts at 315½ West Smith in Stratford.
Fresh donuts (changing types and styles every day), biscuits
and gravy, kolachies, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches,
and a lot of pastry rolls round out the menu, with fresh brewed
coffee, of course.
Biscotti, a historic and popular Italian cookie, takes its Italian name
from the twice-baked technique for cooking. The delicious and crunchy
texture of these cookies is perfect for dunking in coffee and tea.
About the time of Christ in ancient Rome, the
Italians originated the technique of baking pastry dough
twice to produce a very dry cookie that could be stored
for long periods and could be used as a convenient
travel food. 2000 years later these delectable crunchy
treats have spread throughout the western world, and
you may well have encountered them for sale at your
grocer, specialty bakeries, and of course at Starbucks
and other coffee shops, especially during the Christmas
season. This recipe (adapted from the San Francisco
Chronicle) is quick (about an hour, start to finish) and
sure to please.
Mix in a large bowl: 1 cup sugar, 1/2 c. unsalted
butter, melted, 3 tbsp brandy (optional), 1 tsp almond
extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1½ c. whole unsalted
almonds (previously toasted at 350 degree for 10
minutes, then coarsely chopped). Then add 3 large
eggs, 3 c. all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp baking powder, 1/4
tsp Kosher salt and blend. Dried cranberries and pistachios can be added to the cookie dough before baking.
Form two flat loaves (12 x 5 x 1½ inch slabs) and
place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 25 to 30
minutes (350 degrees) until firm and cake-like (a little
soft to the touch). After cooling, cut the loaves diagonally into 1/2 inch slices and arrange a single layer of
slices on the baking sheet. And bake 25 to 30 minutes
(turning once) until toasted light brown. After cooling
on a wire rack, store in an airtight container.
Since they are very crispy, biscotti traditionally are
served with a drink. These incredibly crunchy cookies
are perfect for dunking into freshly brewed coffee or
tea. In Italy, biscotti are typically served as a dessert
course in an Italian (Tuscan) tradition that includes
dipping the biscotti slices into fortified wine. For
holidays and birthdays, I often place my fresh biscotti
in an attractive glass jar or simply in cellophane bags
tied with ribbon.
*Patricia Pipkin lives in Santa Fe where she treats family, friends, and
neighbors to her biscotti every Christmas.
RRRRRRRRRR
Heard in the Bank
“There are those who look at things
the way they are and ask, “Why?”
. . . I dream of things that never were
and ask, “Why not?”
Robert F. Kennedy (1925 – 1968)
RRRRRRRRRR
STRATFORD
R. Darryl Fisher, MD
CEO/Chairman of the Board
Dustin Riddle, President/COO
Paula Balentine, VP/Operations-Audit
J.D. Bostic, VP/Loan Officer
Shirl Wilcher, Vice President Operations
Director of Communications
Jason O’Neal
For more than a decade a weary and vacant frame
building, formerly the Napa Auto Parts Store, sat
forlornly watching the traffic stream by (OK DOT estimates 6000 vehicles every 24 hours on State Highway
10/East Smith Street. Meanwhile, all around the vacant
building, Stratford was changing and bustling. This
dreary brown store saw OHB across the street come in
2005 and then double five years later; the Sonic Drive-In
arrived this summer, a doughnut toss to the west of this
old building.
The future for this old building was grim, until Josh
and Tevy Tipps of Antlers, OK saw an opportunity that
no one else had seen. Their vision of Daylight Donuts of
Stratford is built on their two year experience in their
home town of Antlers, where they have successfully opened
and operated a donut franchise for over two years. And
when they found out that there was nothing similar to their
donut shop between Ada and Pauls Valley, these two entrepreneurs set about to rescue the building and to establish
their second franchise in the freshly refurbished building.
Tevy recruited her brother, Pheakdey Kong, to move
to Stratford to establish and to open the store, beginning
October 8. Pheakdey begins cooking at 3 AM each day
and welcomes you to stop in for a breakfast or lunch
treat. Hours are 4:30 until noon, every day. Large orders
can be accommodated by calling a day or two before.
580-759-2122
Quickstop Convenience Store in
Roff Remodeled by New Owner
OHB Roff Manager Jason O’Neal (l.) stands with Deepak Gantia,
owner and operator of the Roff QuickStop, in front of the beverage
station at the newly remodeled convenience store in Roff, now with
automated gasoline pumps, allowing customers to pay at the
pumps. With a full-service kitchen and cafe seating, Deepak’s store
can provide snacks and light meals throughout the day.
The 19th century poet and essayist Ralph Waldo
Emerson (1803-1882) could have been describing
Deepak Gantia, the 35-year-old entrepreneur who is the
owner and operator of the Roff QuickStop, when he
wrote “Life is a journey, not a destination.” Deepak
was born and raised in India but emigrated to the
United States, graduating with a Master’s degree in
Electrical Engineering from Oakland University, formerly Michigan State University-Oakland. There he
met and married his wife Sravani, also from India.
ROFF
Assistant Vice President
Branch Manager
Breana Burkhead
Kim Streetman
New Accounts Representative
Shirley Barnett, Head Teller
Pam Harrison, Teller
Judy Dixon, Loan Processor
Assistant Vice President/Loan Officer
Billy Norton
Assistant Vice President
Loan Administration Supervisor
Jared Wells
Deniece Snow
Assistant Vice President
Karen Dowing, Loan Processor
Gina Phillips
Customer Service Representative
Gloria Moore
Loan Administration
Sue Scifres, Loan Processor
Ann Bonner, Fred Stephens,
and Vicki Combs, Tellers
ADA
Vice President/Chief Lending Officer
Julia Jack
Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager
Chance Branscum
Assistant Vice President/Lender
Jericho Allen, Mortgage Loan Processor
Jenni Watson, Teller/New Accounts
Ryan Jolley, Teller
Rosa Cruz, Receptionist
BYNG
Following graduation Deepak was employed for
five years at General Motors before the couple moved
to Dallas where Sravani is a Senior Business Analyst
for CitiBank. Deepak then began his entrepreneurial
ventures, since acquiring five convenience stores,
four near their home in Hillsboro, Texas, and most
recently the Roff store. The couple, now permanent
U.S. residents, have a 3 year old daughter, Deetya.
Deepak has extensively renovated the Roff Quick
Stop, adding a full-service kitchen with cafe seating.
The gasoline pumps have been modernized and automated, allowing customers to pay at the pumps. His
plans include an affiliation with Shamrock Diamond
Shamrock, a major oil-refining and marketing company
in Oklahoma, Texas, and other states in this region.
“Deepak’s life’s journey has brought him half
around the world to Roff, where all of us at OHB and
in the community welcome him,” said OHB-Roff
Manager Jason O’Neal.
Stratford Author/Photographer
Laura Brigger
Publishes Children’s Book
Laura Brigger, Stratford author/photographer/mom, enchants
children at the Stratford Public Library with reading her recently
published children’s book, Rupert – the Very Naughty Elephant. Her
first in a planned series of inspirational children’s books carries a
message about children improving their own behavior and by so
doing influencing better behavior in other children.
“In my writing for children I try to tell stories that
have a character-building message the kids can understand through the fictional actions of the adorable, and
not so adorable, characters,” explains Laura Brigger
who lives on her family’s nine acre farm near Stratford
with her husband, Tom, of 20 years and their four
children (16 to 20 years old). “Family activities are
everything for all of us, from fishing to target shooting
to antique repairing and collecting antiques.”
Growing up with six brothers and sisters, Laura
found herself at an early age entertaining her family
by telling stories and writing poetry. Perhaps her love
of inspirational narratives might have come from her
father, Bob Begley, a retired nondenominational
Christian preacher. Her passion for storytelling and
writing continued in her adult life. No doubt Laura’s
writing for children has been influenced by her work
with the Legacy Church (Stratford) where she and her
husband have served as Children’s Ministers as well
as by Laura’s work at Ada’s House of Hope.
Her creativity has also found expression in her
business as Lyndon Avenue Photography, specializing
in style, family, wedding and event photography, as
well as destination photography. https://www.facebook.com/LyndonAvenuePhotography/?pnref=lhc.
Her recently published children’s book, Rupert –
the Very Naughty Elephant, has captivated children of
all ages with an anthropomorphic school-age elephant
as its colorful and compelling main character. In 24
beautifully illustrated pages by the renowned New
Jersey-based book illustrator Kim Sponaugle, Laura
tells an allegorical tale in simple words of how Rupert
takes responsibility for changing his naughty ways
and in so doing influences his even naughtier friend
Ruthy to become a nice and well behaved person.
Laura’s book can be obtained at Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, or by contacting her directly at
580-759-9698 or Kissb4ugo@gmail.com.
Chris Watkins
Vice President/Branch Manager
Madonna Penick
New Accounts Representative
Terry Littlefield, Head Teller
Susan Overall, Teller
Carla Campbell, Loan Processor
Alex Schaffer
Assistant Compliance Officer
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
R. Darryl Fisher
Chairman of the Board/CEO
Bo Cail, Director
Wayne Cobb, Director
Don Connally, Director
Phyllis Danley, Director
Rick Griffin, Director
Keri Coleman Norris, Director
Ron Tidwell, Director
Advisory Directors:
Dustin Riddle, Chris Watkins,
Paula Balentine, and Billy Norton
Eric S. Fisher, Sr., Esq., General Counsel