24
Wisconsin Community Banker
January/February 2014
End of an Era: Wick Family Sells Bank of Turtle Lake to
Dairy State Bank
Doris Green
W
hen the Wick family sold
the Bank of Turtle Lake
early this year, it marked the end
of their combined 143 years of
small-town customer service.
Beginning with their grandfather,
Ernie Wick, the family has been
associated with the bank since
the height of World War II. For
possibly the first time in 70 years,
a Wick did not sign the latest
call report. The bank opened its
Island City Branch in Cumber-
land in 1991.
The Bank of Turtle Lake
incorporated much earlier,
on March 17, 1900 in a small
wooden structure south of the
present-day Turtle Lake Pub-
lic Library. The bank erected a
new facility in 1902. When the bank
opened, the surrounding land was
largely cutover timber. Slowly, farm-
ing replaced lumber and sawmill
operations as the major occupation
of the region and land prices rose
steeply during World War I. In 1922
bank deposits totaled approximately
$250,000. The bank survived the Great
Depression and became a member of
the FDIC on Feb. 1, 1934.
In 1944, the Bank of Turtle Lake
was purchased by stockholders of
Northwestern Bank of Cumberland.
Arthur Quinn was named president,
and Ernie Wick, previously with
Northwestern, became cashier. Depos-
its exceeded $1 million in July 1946.
Following Ernie Wick’s death in
1952, his son, Donald, succeeded
him. Don Wick and his sister Dorothy
Cornwall bought out other sharehold-
ers near the end of that year and Don
Wick was named president and cashier
in January 1953. Cornwall became a
director, serving 43 years and retiring
in 1996.
In 1967 the bank moved from a
longtime location on South Maple
Street to a new facility down the street.
With two additions to the bank and
drive-up lanes, this facility remained
the bank’s home until its sale in January.
Four of Don Wick’s six children
eventually joined him in the bank. Pat
began in 1972 and served as president.
Mark followed him into the bank in
1976. Jim entered the business in 1981
and Paul followed in 1982. Mary and
Paul worked for a short period at the
bank before following other career
paths. Don Wick retired in 1989.
Pat Wick noted how the business of
banking has changed since the 1970s,
when a note comprised only two
sheets of paper—the note itself and
a second for collateral. Today, a real
estate loan can comprise 20 forms.
“Being a banker is kind of dream
related. The dreams were making busi-
nesses, autos, and homes become a
reality. Today those dreams are taking
place inside of a cloud of regulations,”
he told a reporter fromThe Times,
Turtle Lake (published Dec. 12, 2013).
“I loved being a small town banker,”
Pat Wick wrote in an e-mail to Wis-
consin Community Banker. “I was able
for a time to share the joys and sadness
of many of my customers. I would say,
the first 32 years were satisfying com-
munity banking. The last 10 years have
[brought] more legislation, regulation,
and enforcement [and meant less time
for] the needs of customers of small
towns. Going forward I will not miss
the endless paper work. …
“Plans are to continue to be friends
with my customers, lower my average
golf score, treat my wife like a queen,
and be a more active father to my
son and daughter.” Wick also plans to
spend more time with his 16-month-
old granddaughter Lana. He con-
cluded, “Banking was a wonderful
career of one person helping to shape
the lives of many others.”
The Bank of Turtle Lake officially
reopened as a branch of Dairy State
Bank on Feb. 24, 2014.
A family affair: four of DonWick’s six children made the
community bank their career.
The children of Don and Gladys Wick—left to right, Pat, Mary, Mark, James, Paul, and KevinWick—
sold the Bank of Turtle Lake to Dairy State Bank in January.
