RUMFORD – Donald Cummings never really planned to get into banking, but somehow it worked out that way. And now after nearly 35 years in the business, he has decided it’s time to retire.
Cummings, 59, is a Mexico native who worked his way up the corporate ladder. After graduating from Mexico High School in 1965, then serving in the U.S. Army for three years, he graduated from what was then Central Maine Vocational Technical Institute in Auburn.
One of his first jobs was with the now-defunct Industrial Bank of Maine in Rumford. A few years later, he was hired as a loan officer with Franklin Savings. From there, he worked his way up, first, as manager of the new Mexico branch of the bank, which he helped open, then as manager of the Rumford branch. In 2000, he became vice president and manager of both branches.
In the time he’s managed the two branches, the number of employees has nearly doubled, from about a dozen to 22.
It’s the people he has enjoyed the most over the years.
“I’m very people-oriented. I enjoy people, helping people and helping them over the years,” he said Thursday afternoon as a retirement party was about to begin at the Rumford branch. He’ll feel sad, he said, when he leaves his position on Jan. 27.
“I made the announcement a year ago that I was going to retire, and I have been apprehensive, but I’ll miss the people and the contact with employees,” he said.
The job has been fulfilling.
“Working for Franklin Savings has given me an opportunity to do my job and interact with people,” he said.
He won’t be out of touch with people once he retires, though. He is making plans to go to work part-time for Adley Auto Sales in Rumford.
“I couldn’t think of stopping contact with people,” he said.
Cummings also likes to hunt, fish, snowmobile and attend team penning, where a team of riders on horseback rounds up cattle into pens. He and his daughter, Sarah, used to ride together during the events. He was instrumental in organizing the Central Maine Team Penning Association in 1996.
“Team penning with my daughter was the most fun I’ve had in my life,” he said.
With his daughter and son, Aaron, both grown and gone, he and his wife, Sharon, now have two large, brown, fluffy Bernese mountain dogs.
Diane Perry, Mexico, a banker for nearly 25 years and the senior loan officer at the Rumford Franklin Savings for six months, will take over Cummings’ job.
Comments are no longer available on this story