It was 1946 when a letter came in the mail to George Anton Casanova at his farm just southwest of Aberdeen. It was an invite from Henry Angerhofer to attend a meeting about the formation of a credit union in Highland Township. Mr. Casanova was unsure about this new venture, but at that time George Anton’s 20–year–old son, George Robert, was still at home working on the family farm and his interest was piqued. The proposal was for 20 neighbors to each invest $25 to raise $500 and establish their very own credit union. George Robert admits he didn’t know much about credit unions at the time, but he had $25 and liked the idea. Casanova’s money was added to the others in a brown envelope, and in exchange for a handshake he became a founding member. Little did George know, nearly 75 years later, his investment not only funded a seedling credit union movement in Brown County, but eventually become part of the second largest credit union in South Dakota.
As George’s little credit union took root, it soon needed a more substantial structure which led to a name change and employees. On November 10, 1949, George signed his first official membership card to Brownco Federal Credit Union. Casanova remembered first utilizing the credit union for a loan to purchase a used 1941 Ford car. Again, he didn’t recall there being a lot of paperwork, just an agreement and a handshake.
About this very same time, on February 12, 1949, Northwestern Bell employees create Aberdeen Telco Federal Credit Union. In 1982, the name was changed to Aberdeen Area Telco and Utilities Federal Credit Union when NorthWestern Public Service employees became members. A merger with Brownco Federal Credit Union in 1986, gave way to another name change and Consolidated Federal Credit Union was the result.
Even though the Casanova Family utilized other financial institutions to finance the growing farming operation with his dad and brother, for 75 years George stayed supportive and loyal to the investment he had made in his little credit union. “I like to know who I am doing business with and I have always appreciated how the credit unions take care of their members,” he stated.
In 1953, Casanova left the farm and took employment with John Morrell in Aberdeen. It was one of the largest distribution centers covering northern South Dakota, western Minnesota, eastern Montana and southern North Dakota. George started out in the warehouse, later moved to inventory clerk and then to sales. Eventually he was named the Controller and Credit Manager, which came with a lot of travel to places as far away as Chicago and New York. “It was a good place to work,” Casanova recalls. He enjoyed his career in meat packing and has many stories and friends to prove it, but after 35 years of service, he retired in 1989.
George found retirement to be ‘boring’ and quickly took employment with the Super City Mall in Aberdeen as the Property Manager where he still works today at the young age of 95. “I was only going to work there until they found someone for the job, but that was 30 years ago,” George laughed.
During his time with John Morrell, George and his wife, Ruth, raised five sons: Steve (Pat) of Aberdeen, SD, Chuck (Robin) of Gretna, NE, Tom (deceased), Dan (Karla) of Rapid City, SD and Jeff (Paula) also of Aberdeen, SD. George confesses it was Ruth that kept the home fires burning while he was traveling with his job. He will also tell you he was the kind of dad that made every effort to teach his sons to be smart with their money. “A lesson I learned early in life from my dad was to never borrow more than you can pay back, and I think it’s still great advice today,” shared George.
In 1996, Casanova was serving on the volunteer Board of Directors for Consolidated FCU and it was then Hubco Federal Credit Union merged with Consolidated. There was talk of eliminating the ‘Consolidated’ name, but George took a stance against it. “I felt the credit unions and members, which came together to form Consolidated FCU, deserved to have their name carried on”, explained George. It was a victory when the name was changed to Consolidated Hub-Co Federal Credit Union. Consolidated Hub-Co Federal Credit Union merged one last time on January 1, 2018 and became the 10th branch location for Dakotaland Federal Credit Union.
“The last merger with Dakotaland was a good move, exclaimed George, they were able to bring the services we needed and can make much larger loans then we ever could in the past.” The stability and expansion were enough to convince George to leave a 60–year–old business relationship with another financial institution and return to where it all started…at his credit union.
