Hendrickson Retires After Decades In Banking
Culbertson Opportunity Bank branch president Wayne Hendrickson will be retiring in October, after 22 years with the organization. Hendrickson spent 20 years with First Community Bank prior to a transition in ownership and an additional two years with Opportunity, who took over the bank in 2022.
“I started with Daniels-Sheridan Federal Credit Union in 1987,” Hendrickson told the Community News, bringing his total in the industry to 37 years. He listed the introduction of the internet as one of the many significant changes that have occurred in the business during his career.
Hendrickson, who grew up on the family farm about 20 miles east of Medicine Lake, said the idea of working in banking was suggested by his mom after he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in ag business administration from National American University in Rapid City, S.D.. After 15 years with DSFCU, Hendrickson was recruited by Sam Waters, former FCB chairman and president.
Hendrickson has long served as secretary for the Culbertson Lions Club and president of the Culbertson Chamber of Commerce. He said he will continue volunteering in both roles for the foreseeable future. Retirement, he said, should allow him to focus on area events and activities, rather than splitting his obligations between the community and the bank on busy days.
Asked what he has planned moving forward, Hendrickson said the family is heading to Minneapolis, Minn., for a Vikings’ game against the Indianapolis Colts in early November. “I’ll be retired one day,” Hendrickson said, “and traveling the next.” He said the trip will include wife, Penny, son Eric and girlfriend, daughter and son-inlaw Emily and Luke Casterline and grandkids Clara and Kayden.
Along with travel and ongoing responsibilities with the Chamber and the Lions, Hendrickson said he will continue on as board chair for Culbertson’s Grace & Peace Church at 207 1st Ave W.
Hendrickson said the staff in Culbertson are very tightly knit and have been working together for decades in some cases, with Tara Nickoloff, Lori Holum Buxbaum and Pam Arneson, among others, serving in long term positions. “We have always had each other’s backs,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson’s official last day is Oct. 31. Asked if he plans to dress in costume for the holiday, he said it was an outside possibility. “I’m not planning on it,” he said. “But the ladies sometimes get ideas, so you never know.”
