Larry Fechter, 1960
In October of ’60 I joined the Army, hoping they would tell me what I might be best suited for. I was sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, for Basic Training and then Auto Mechanic training. I was then sent to Ft. Bliss at El Paso, TX, and assigned to an Artillery Unit where I was retrained in Special Weapons maintenance. In the spring of ’61 we loaded all of our equipment on a train to Oakland, CA, and then onto a troop ship to Korea. After 14 months in Korea, I was reassigned to Ft. Hood, TX, to finish out my enlistment.
In ’63 I came back to Wichita where I worked several different jobs until I went to work for B.I.C Loans. This began my career in banking. B.I.C Loans sent me to Goodland, then to Liberal. After answering a newspaper ad for Postal Finance in Denver, I moved to Wheatridge, CO. A year later I went to work for Colorado National Bank in the BankAmericard department. (Above, Larry in 2023)
In December of ’68 I moved to Clovis, NM, to be the Credit Card Manager for Citizens Bank of Clovis. I ended up creating a Mortgage Loan Department there, and then in ’84 moved over to the Clovis National Bank to develop their mortgage loan program. A couple of years later I moved to First National Bank of Clovis, again to develop a Mortgage Loan Department. In ’90 I tried my hand at being a Realtor, but after a year of limited income, I gave up that plan and went back to banking by moving to Trinidad, CO, to create a mortgage program for Trinidad National Bank.
Then, in ’94, I moved to Albuquerque, NM, and went to work for Ranchers State Bank out of Belen, NM, 30 miles south of Albuquerque. I eventually became the Compliance Officer for Ranchers, a position I thoroughly enjoyed. Ranchers was bought out by First State Bank, which required my commuting to Albuquerque. Then in 2011, First State (now known as First Community Bank) was acquired by US Bank, which is based in Minneapolis, MN. My job as Compliance Officer was no longer needed at the local level, and I was not willing to move to Minneapolis, so I retired in August of that year.
I continue to enjoy my retirement here in Rio Communities, on the east side of the Rio Grande from Belen, with my lovely wife Barbara.
Most of us never know what a compliance officer does. Think of a bank examiner who is to see things meet standards, not to detect fraud, or an auditor whose job is to affirm financial statements meet some standard, and again, not specifically to find fraud. Working as a director of a financial services firm for thirty years, I made sure to be on a first name basis with several compliance officers. They need to affirm the business meets regulatory standards, etc., but are also often the first to detect when some transaction (or people !) doesn’t pass the smell test.
Thanks, Larry, for all the potential mishaps you helped avert !