Tompkins Weekly

Groton bank celebrates employee’s 50th year



 

 

As a little girl, no more than age 7, who grew up in the house at 123 Church St. in Groton, Norma Samson told her parents, “If you ever move out of this house, I’m going to move right back and live in the attic!”

When Samson had the opportunity to purchase her childhood home in 1993, where she still lives today, she was delighted to come full circle back to the place that had meant so much to her as a child, though this Groton High School class of 1970 alumna never left Groton altogether.

On Monday, Nov. 18, the First National Bank of Groton welcomes the public to stop in for celebratory cake in the lobby of its Main Street location in Groton, as it commemorates Samson’s 50-year anniversary as an employee there.

When Samson began working in the bank during her senior year of high school, it was located on the corner of Main and West Cortland Streets in the same building that the Robert C. Dempsey Insurance Company is housed today. At that time, Earl Jones was the bank president.

In 1972, the bank built its brand-new facility at 161 Main St. Samson’s father, Wayland Mattoon, had grown up in one of the homes that were removed to accommodate the new bank. Mattoon was also a Groton native, who met and married a Moravia girl named Elizabeth Breese in 1936.

While Samson is not completely sure what her father did for a living in the early years of her parents’ marriage, she does remember that they moved to Buffalo for him to take a job at Bell Aircraft. Samson’s older sister, Sandra, was born there, but when the family returned to Groton in 1952 when Wayland took a job a Smith-Corona, it was not long thereafter that Norma was born.

When Samson graduated from high school, she thought she might like to become a math teacher because, as she said, “I love numbers,” so she attended SUNY Oswego for a semester, still working at the bank during every school break.

Samson didn’t really like being away from home. She enrolled in Tompkins Cortland Community College to study business administration in January of 1971 and then located right on Main Street in Groton, which made it easy for her to continue working at the bank between classes.

Samson also worked at the bank every Saturday morning. She said her job on those Saturdays was rolling “bags and bags and bags of coins” because the merchants needed them for change in their stores.

She fondly recalled some of the local Groton stores that relied on the bank for that such as Victory Market, Walpole’s Grocery, the 5&10, Hathaway’s Men’s Store, the Jean Anne Shop, Ford’s Clothing and Western Auto, as well as “The Bakery,” which was located where Casper’s Diner is today. Samson said the bank employees would go down there every day for coffee and donuts during their breaks.

Once Samson was working full time, she was a full-fledged teller.

“On Fridays, we would dress up nicer because the lobby would be full of Smith-Corona workers all day long cashing their paychecks,” she said.

She also said they would have fun competing with each other as to who could wait on the most customers in a day.

As the bank grew, Samson grew with it. She mentioned her co-workers, Steve Gobel, Gary Watrous and Alan Christopher, describing the four of them as “a team that grew together as the more seasoned workers at the bank taught us everything.”

Today, Samson is the senior vice president of operations and technology at the bank.

“Norma has been there for us all through the years – taking us through changes in operation and computerization,” bank president, Steve Gobel, said of Samson.

Samson recalled that, before automation, they would have to file all the cashed paper checks in paper files for each customer, but beginning in 1978, they shared electronic communications with the Tompkins Trust Company to process checks.

In 1987, Tompkins Trust needed to switch from NCR to IBM for its processing system.

“Groton then had to change too, so we converted to our own in-house processing,” Samson said. “That was just the beginning of major changes, and it was a fun time to be a part of.”

Some of the many areas Samson oversees in her current role are check processing, customer phone calls, sending out statements and other back office work necessary for the smooth operations of banking on a daily basis.

“The best part is that I have a terrific group of people to work with,” she said.
Over and above all that Samson has accomplished in the past 50 years, she feels her greatest accomplishment has been, in her words, “mentoring the many Groton High School seniors who would work at the bank as interns every day after school, on Saturdays, and during school breaks and then watching them learn and grow and venture out into the business world or college.”

“The other thing I feel very proud of is having raised my son and daughter as a single mom through most of this and still be able to do all I have done here at the bank,” she said.

Congratulations are certainly in order for Norma Samson for her 50 years of service to the First National Bank of Groton. Do stop by on Monday, Nov. 18 for a piece of cake and to offer your own expressions of appreciation.

Groton on the Inside appears weekly. Submit news ideas to Linda Competillo, lmc10@cornell.edu or 607-227-4922.

In brief:

Breakfast in McLean

The McLean Fire Station will host its last monthly breakfast for this year from 8 to 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 17. On the menu will be regular, chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup, French toast, scrambled eggs, home-fried potatoes, sausage, ham, sausage gravy with biscuits, an assortment of juices, and regular and decaf coffee.

This month’s special menu item is pumpkin custard for dessert. Cost for adults is $8, senior citizens $7 and all children $5. For more information call (607) 838-3444 or (607) 838-8249.

Vaping and opioid drugs

Groton High School and Groton Rotary Club will co-sponsor a parent information session on vaping and opioid drug use presented by Tompkins County Alcohol & Drug Council. The training will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21 at the high school, 400 Peru Rd. A light dinner will be provided. Parents are asked to contact Tim Heller if they plan to attend the event at (607) 898-4588 or theller@grotoncs.org.

Happening at the library

Nov. 19: The free monthly community meal at the Groton Public Library will be held at 6 p.m. This month’s menu presents a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Nov. 20: Hear about composting and how to use it with fall leaves for your spring garden at 6 p.m., plus get more information on the community composting site next to the community garden, all while enjoying free pizza!

Nov. 21: The monthly book club will be held at 7 p.m. All are welcome to come and discuss “The Tender Bar” by J.R. Moehringer.

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