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Biltoft has been a tireless community supporter in her banking career

COLERIDGE — Mary Biltoft is ready to cash in her many years of hard work and call it a career.

The president of the Coleridge branch of Security Bank is planning to step down from her position after her last day on the job Wednesday, June 23.

“It is time for me to retire and let the great young talent we have at the bank step in,” Biltoft said.

The 67-year-old has loved working with the Coleridge bank’s customers, most of whom are her friends now.

“Living in a small town though, I will run into most of them, so it’s not like I won’t get to see them again,” Biltoft said. “The employees at Security Bank are like extended family and I will miss working with every one of them.”

Although she is getting ready to retire from a long career in banking, Biltoft did not start out working at a financial institution.

She was employed at the newspaper office in Milford when a local bank approached her with a job opportunity in 1973.

Biltoft worked at that bank for about a year while her husband, Mike, attended technical school in Milford.

When he graduated, the couple relocated to Norfolk and Biltoft worked at a bank there for about a year until they moved to Coleridge in 1977.

They bought an electrical business and she worked in the shop with her husband from 1977-84.

Biltoft started working at Coleridge National Bank in 1984. The financial institution became a Security Bank branch in 2005.

The Wayne native has enjoyed working at Security Bank so much that she cannot imagine working anywhere else for so long.

“It’s what I’ve done for most of my adult life,” Biltoft said. “What’s more fun than helping someone buy their first home or first herd of cows or their first business?”

She has loved getting to work side by side with the Coleridge bank’s customers – through good and bad days.

“Luckily there have been many more good days than bad,” Biltoft said. “I have always enjoyed the people I work with and I have enjoyed doing what I do so I’ve never had a reason to look elsewhere.”

She has held several positions during her career at the Coleridge bank, including branch president since 2005.

“I have literally worked in every part of the bank, as I started as a receptionist for Coleridge National Bank in 1984, then on to working in bookkeeping and as a teller to assistant cashier and then on to lending – consumer lending at the beginning,” Biltoft said. “It is something different every day. It never gets boring.”

She recalled how everything was done by hand when she started working in the business of banking, including the sorting of checks.

“Back then, no one had computers or cellphones so there was no such thing as online banking and mobile deposit,” Biltoft said. “These are great changes giving the consumer the ability to bank from anywhere and at any time.

“Many people don’t even come to the bank anymore when they have their pay-checks deposited electronically and we now have ATM machines if they need cash,” she said. “You can apply for a loan online and pay your bills online; all of this makes life so much simpler for consumers.”

In addition to working at the Coleridge bank, Biltoft has been really involved in the Cedar County community by participating in numerous clubs and organizations.

She has served in several positions at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Coleridge.

“I taught Sunday school when my kids were young,” Biltoft said. “I have served on the church council and the endowment committee and now am on the tech committee serving as a sound tech.”

She has also been a member of the Coleridge Community Club for many years.

“If you want to live in a thriving community, you have to do your part,” Biltoft said. “You just need to give part of your time and talents for the betterment of the community.”

She helped start Coleridge’s website in 1997, with the assistance of the Public Power District.

“Through them, many small towns were able to start websites and they helped set them up,” Biltoft said. “I provided all of the information and pictures, but they had a staff and still have the staff that help with our site.

“They are just now in the process of revamping our whole webpage,” she said. “The economic coordinator for the village is going to keep it up.”

She has served on the Coleridge village and nursing home boards and is a part of the Coleridge Area Fund, an affiliate of the Nebraska Community Foundation.

“We are a fairly new organization, of which I am the treasurer,” Biltoft said of the Coleridge Area Fund. “We are currently starting a fund drive for new park equipment for the city park in Coleridge.”

She and her husband – who is a retired electrician – have called Coleridge home for about 44 years and have no plans to move elsewhere.

“We have always spent weekends up at the river from May through October and plan to spend more time up there now in retirement,” Biltoft said.

The couple, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year on Jan. 29, plan to spend more time with their adult children and grandchildren.

“I want to spend more time at the river and hope to spend more time with family and friends now that I have all the time in the world,” Biltoft said. “Best of all, I can attend grandchildren’s events for those that are still in school.”

She loves spending time outdoors, which she plans to do more of in her retirement.

“This will allow me more time to work in our yards and the garden and not try to squeeze all the work into the evenings,” Biltoft said. “I am hoping to have all my flowers survive the summer and have the best producing garden ever.”

Security Bank’s Coleridge branch has scheduled a retirement open house for her on Wednesday, June 16.

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