Paul Ollis and his team at First Horizon in West Haven had planned this day for months. Ollis wanted to honor servicemen and women prior to Veterans Day. First, he contacted his customers who are veterans, inviting them to display their picture in uniform. Then he reached out to the community. He talked with other branch bank managers, asking them to invite their veterans. He set a date for a party and rounded up refreshments.
They came. Young and old, black and white, sailor and soldier.
William W. “Bill” Snyder Jr., almost 96, was the oldest of the group. He served in the Army just after World War II, “a little over three years from 1946-48.” He had an older brother killed in Italy. When Snyder came home, he settled in to the West Haven community and has been banking at the branch “for as long as I can remember.”
Snyder worked at Y-12, retiring in 1998. His son Jay brought him to the party.
Paul Ollis said Snyder interviewed him when he was named branch manager of the West Haven First Horizon. Ollis must have passed muster because now Snyder bypasses the tellers and comes straight to Paul’s desk. “He still works his own garden,” Ollis said. “He’s always bringing me okra and stuff.”
Edgar Orrick, 84, spent 23 years in the Navy including four years in Vietnam. He retired from the military in 1977, then worked 16 years for JCPenney and another 23 years with Knox County Schools. He lives off McKamey Road and banks with First Horizon. “They’ve got all my money.”
Orrick retired from the Navy as an E6, gunner’s mate first class. Why the Navy?
“Growing up, I didn’t think much about the Navy,” he said. He got his dad’s signature to join at age 17 and went to see a recruiter. At the time, all recruiters were housed in the basement of the federal courthouse on Main Street.
Orrick went to the Marines first. The recruiter said it would take six weeks to get a group together. Ditto with the Army and Air Force. Disappointed, he turned to the Navy office where a finely dressed officer put his arm around his shoulders and said, “Son, I’ll get you out of here tomorrow.”
And Edgar Orrick became a squid.
He served on battleships, cruisers, destroyers and mine sweepers. He retired as a recruiter on Aug. 21, 1977. He is pictured here holding his photograph at retirement. The uniform still fits and he wears it on occasion.
Ollis has about 50 veterans as customers. He also is a veteran who enlisted at age 17. His respect for the men who attended the Nov. 9 celebration was apparent. They are guys from a different era – a time when freedom was a responsibility and service an expectation. Tom Brokaw said it best: The Greatest Generation.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today.