MANNING News JOURNAL

Local News

Family-owned First National Bank;
a 120-year Manning success story

When D.W. Sutherland and O.E. Dutton established First National Bank in the young town of Manning in 1886, they could not have imagined they were initiating a banking tradition that would span five generations.

The operation of First National Bank now spans five generations.
Lyle and Dorothy Arp, seated above, represent a third generation of the
Sutherland family; standing center, Jan and Gaylin Ranniger represent a
fourth generation, and fifth generation members of the staff are
Alex Ranniger, left, and Aaron Stangl, right.

The National Charter for the 120-year-old bank is dated Feb. 13, 1886. Today, the bank stands at its original location of Main Street and Fourth, and D.W.’s granddaughters, Dorothy Arp and Eleanor Schrum, continue to serve on the board of directors. Dorothy has been a board member since 1964, while her family has taken an active role in the bank’s daily operation.

Her father, Ralph Sutherland, became president in 1926 and guided the bank through the Great Depression. Dorothy and husband Lyle graduated together from Manning High School in 1940. They attended college and were married in 1942 just before Lyle was called to the service.

Dorothy said, “When he (Lyle) was discharged from the Navy, he was supposed to help Leo Bruch in the creamery, but he had had rheumatic fever and wasn’t able to be in refrigeration, so my father said, ‘We can use you in the bank’.”

“That was 1944,” said Lyle. “I started at the bottom and worked my way up.”
Banking was very different in the 1940s. Everything was done by hand. Lyle recalled the hand registry of each check into a notebook. He found it remarkable that no women were employed. He said Genelle Kruse (Kienast) was the first to be hired in about 1947.

With three and four farms operating on each section of countryside, Lyle said a lot of the banking business dealt with agriculture.

“We had a lot of commercial business, too. Manning had a busy Main Street,” he stated. “It’s been a pleasure to see the town grow and the businesses come and be successful.”

Lyle became president in 1965. During his tenure the bank went through major expansion and renovation. The adjoining former Crystal Theater building was purchased and, after renovation, the size of the bank doubled.

He commented on the importance of good leadership from the city council and school board, and recalled some of the large projects that have given him satisfaction. He was a member of the Plaza board when the nursing home was constructed and served as school treasurer for 40 years. He considered construction of the school to be one of the biggest projects.

“They bought the land from Fred Kienapfel. It was all farm ground. The bank was involved with the construction of the school primarily because they had to float a bond issue, and the bank participated in buying some of the bonds,” said Lyle.
The most enjoyable part of his work at the bank was being around people.

“I enjoyed banking from the word go,” he stated. “You’d see people every day. A lot of them had problems. You’d try to help solve their problems, and most of the time it worked out. Back in those days they didn’t take bankruptcy like they do now.”
When Lyle retired in 1990, a fourth generation took over operation of the bank, but the decision to do so was not easy.

The couple’s daughter, Jan, and her husband Gaylin Ranniger set out to be teachers following their high school graduation in 1971 and 1970, respectively. While waiting for his wife to finish college in 1974, Gaylin worked in the accounting department of a Sioux City bank for one year. After having no success finding teaching jobs in the same school, the couple came back to Manning in May 1975.

Gaylin said, “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do at that point, so I farmed with my dad for a year full-time and Jan worked at the bank.”

The couple moved to Des Moines, IA, in 1976 where Jan worked at a bank while Gaylin attended grad school at Drake University.

During that time he decided to take the CPA exam and keep his options open. When he graduated in 1977 and received offers from big accounting firms, the couple had to decide if they would stay in Des Moines or return to Manning.

Jan stated, “It was a tough decision with some sleepless nights. We decided it would be nice to raise our family in a small community and since Gaylin enjoys farming, we came back.”

Jan started work at the bank while Gaylin worked for a Denison accounting firm. There, he met Morrie Heithoff and in October 1978 the men started their own CPA firm in offices constructed in the basement of First National Bank. In 1986 Gaylin also began working at the bank, part-time.

“In the mid-80s Lyle was looking at retiring,” said Gaylin. “I think he stuck with it a little bit longer because we were halfway thinking about selling the bank. We didn’t know if there was continuity. There was probably as much deliberation with that decision, as there was when we decided to return to Manning.”

“There was no pressure to carry on,” Jan commented.

In 1990 Gaylin decided to join the bank and Lyle retired. Since 1986 the bank’s assets have grown from $30-million to $55-million, and its capital asset ratio is currently 15 percent.

“That’s been very important as far as our presence in Manning is concerned because as the projects grew in size, we were able to accommodate larger loans to fund those projects,” Gaylin explained.

He said family-owned banks are becoming rare. Banks are losing family identity because it is getting tougher to find the family continuity. He said it is also harder to compete with the bigger banks.

Dorothy commented, “We feel fortunate that we have it (the bank) to pass on down.”

Gaylin responded, “One thing that is unusual about this bank is that the earnings of the bank have continued to build, allowing the bank to grow. The family, over the years, didn’t dividend out as much money as they could have, and I think that has been a tribute to their family, as well as the ones before them.”

Dorothy replied, “We feel like we are part of the community and we want to keep the community growing.”

Over the past few years a fifth generation has become involved in operation of the bank. Two of Gaylin and Jan’s children, who, like their parents, enjoy the blend of business, agriculture and hometown, have returned to Manning.

Alex, a 2002 Drake graduate, joined the bank in June 2002 and is a member of the lending department. His wife, Kari, is an instructor in the Manning school.

Abbey, who has worked at the bank part-time, has patterned after her father, pursuing an accounting career and is now a CPA. She currently works for a firm in Carroll while her husband, Aaron Stangl, works at the bank.

“Our son-in-law Aaron is about as energetic as they come,” said Gaylin. “When he finished college in May 2003, he really wanted to come back to this area and we needed someone on the operations side.”

The couple’s youngest son, Jacob, is in college also pursuing a business degree, but he has not talked about coming back.

“Our kids are interested, but we won’t force them,” said Jan. “We feel fortunate that at least two of the three have wanted to move back into the area.”

“We’re glad to see them come back to Manning,” Dorothy said with a smile.

The bank currently has 11 full-time employees, and its operators continue to look for ways to improve customer service. Technology continues to drive the way work is done at the bank.

“A year ago we started imaging documents, and right now we’re in the process of going to Internet banking. We just went online and we’ll be working with it internally for a few weeks before we make it live for our customers,” Gaylin stated.

He said the bank is open to expansion, possibly branching out if the opportunity would arise.

Lyle said, “It’s nice to see the bank progressing.”

Emotionally, Dorothy added, “We’re just so glad that Jan and Gaylin have decided to take the reins and carry on into the next century.”

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