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Nelson celebrates 45 years at Exchange Bank

Lead Summary
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By
Mavis Fodness

Carol Nelson’s colleagues honored her 45 years at Exchange State Bank, Luverne, on Tuesday, May 22, with a party and open house.
“I never had a job interview,” Nelson said, looking back on her career.
As a high school senior at Hills-Beaver Creek, then local bank owner Dennis Roning dropped by the business class and, on the spot, offered then Carol Wallenburg a job at the Exchange Bank of Hills.
“He said if I was interested I could come down to the bank on Monday and have a job,” she said.
The year was 1973 and banking practices came and went as Nelson adapted easily to all the changes through the years.
She reflected on tasks then versus now in banking.
“Nothing is the same,” she said.
What has stayed the same, however, is Nelson’s customers at the bank.
“I make eye contact with everyone who enters,” she said.
When the Exchange Bank of Hills became Exchange Bank, Nelson came with the sale.
Jokingly she said, “When he sold the bank, I went with it like a piece of furniture.”
Nelson moved from the Hills location to Luverne in 2011 to be closer to family.
With no immediate plans for retirement, Nelson returned to work the day after her anniversary celebration and greeted patrons as usual from her desk at the bank’s entrance.

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