You bet we do!
In August, the weather is always hot and humid in eastern North Carolina, especially toward the coast. Last Friday was that sort of day. Friends and family of Sallie Cowell Sawyer were gathered outside, under the trees in Oakdale Cemetery, in Washington, N.C. No one was happy being there.
The shade of the primeval oaks offered little relief from the heat - none for the sorrow. The unexpected loss sharpened the grief, honed the sadness.
Sallie Cowell grew up in eastern North Carolina around Bayview on the Pamlico River. Outdoors type, the tidal river was part of her heart. She knew how to sail, how to fish, how to skinny dip, and how to have fun.
But she was also precise about life. Well, more precisely, she was precise about precision. Sallie believed and practiced the "Do the Right Thing!" calling, but she liked "Do the Right Thing Right!" better. She always delivered and expected you to do the same.
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sallie Cowell spent the next 40 years working for SECU starting as a part-time teller and working in a myriad of positions and departments. Her co-workers recognized her leadership, her fairness, her precision. Sallie Cowell advanced to the top as VP managing the debit/credit card services of the Credit Union.
Under the trees at Oakdale last Friday, the minister took special note of an organization that focused on giving employees the opportunity to learn, to seek, to fail, to explore... and to succeed. An organization that gave people like Sallie Cowell Sawyer the opportunity to "...search for her light and make it shine."
Many, many folks, like Sallie, from all walks of life in North Carolina, have made that journey at SECU ... with remarkable results. Those wonderful people may be SECU's "finest brand"; SECU's most important achievement. What matters more?
😎 There really is no secret about how you build a unicorn credit union. It's not about rates, nor technology. It's not about power, nor profits, nor regulation, nor growth, nor scale, nor prestige, nor "industry standard" - all that is simply an embarrassment of that superficial "new/new, me/me" stuff.
✅ A credit union should be about something more! Perhaps, like that one purpose folks used to believe in with both heart and soul: "People Helping People".
.. "people" like our members, like our employees, like our friends and neighbors in North Carolina.
Suspect that Sallie would say, as she flashed that famous smile, ... precisely!!!
