HEDRICK — May 6 was a momentous day for Robert Helgerson. It was his 90th birthday, and Hedrick Savings Bank was holding an open house to celebrate his planned retirement from the bank.

Bob Helgerson is a tall, gracious and modest man who still opens doors for women, is polite and speaks with a soft gentle voice despite some compromised hearing.

He doesn’t look like a typical 90-year-old. His eyes sparkle with real interest, and he has a happy smiling expression on his face. One might say he is a “gentle giant.” When customers who often have seen Mr. Helgerson on a regular basis through the many years since 1960, they feel a connection and trust in their bank, Hedrick Savings Bank. Many of them came to the open house to wish him a happy birthday and to congratulate Robert Helgerson on his retirement from his almost 60 years in banking.

Little has changed since that day, however. He still goes to the Hedrick bank two days a week to visit with customers. “But, I don’t have to make decisions anymore,” he says. “And the girls really spoil me, getting my coffee and making sure I’m super comfortable at all times. Then, I head to the downtown Ottumwa bank for a board meeting once a week as a board member, just to keep up with things.”

Graduating from Red Oak (Iowa) High School in 1937, Helgerson started working at Houghton State Bank in Red Oak for $30 a month while waiting to start college. It was entry level work on a Burroughs bookkeeping machine. Those summers were where he learned his first ins and outs of the banking business.

Following graduation from Iowa State College with a degree in geology in 1943, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in World War II, coming back to marry Connie Baker in 1945. He still calls her his “bride” of 64 years.

From 1946 to 1951, Helgerson worked with the Baker, Helgerson, Baker Real Estate and Insurance Company, an agency of Connie’s father and brother and Bob. Again, he moved into banking, first at Creston, then at Princeton, Iowa, from 1954-1960.

Helgerson said he wanted to get into banking as a part owner, and the small bank in Hedrick was on the market, so Ralph N. Baker and Robert Aven Helgerson contracted to buy Hedrick Savings Bank with the hopes of “growing the business.” This was in April 1960. The new bank building at Hedrick was built in 1967.

It was a different time of banking. “There were a minimum of rules or regulations. It was a time of trust between the banker and the customer,” he says. “Maybe there was a slip of paper and a handshake, and the farmer or business man or woman felt mutual respect and would not break the agreement if at all possible.”

Even in 1960, doing the bookkeeping was tedious at a bank, and everything had to be typed by hand, sometimes in multiple copies, and interest had to be figured by hand on each account and recorded in the owner’s book and the bank’s account sheets.

Helgerson helped make Hedrick Savings Bank grow from $1.5 million in deposits to the $57 million of recent years by calling on each customer and getting to know them, asking them how things could be improved and to help them build the trust needed between their banker and the customer. To this day, many people come in to talk to the charming elder Mr. Helgerson, “their trusted friend.”

As time went on, oldest son, Martin, returned from his service during the Vietnam War and worked in the bank. John graduated from college and worked for Fiserve Corp. while he earned his MBA, but after five or six years, asked if he could come back to Hedrick Savings Bank to work. David, the youngest son, is on the board of the bank and farms. Nancy, the only daughter, is a stockholder. A grandson, Jesse, worked for five years after college, but left to pursue his music career.

Now, Martin is retired, but remains on the board. John is president of the board and works full time for the bank as the executive officer, and Connie is a stockholder.

Connie laughingly says, “There are so many involved, it is a revolving bunch of titles for members of the family right now.”

There are other grandchildren coming up, so it remains to be seen when they are college educated if they will be interested in the banking business of their grandfather.