This reunion is not about Lincoln National Bank, it’s about people who worked there. More than a decade after the bank ceased to exist, its former employees decided to get together to talk about the good old days. Nearly 200 attended.
Carl Gunkler started as a messenger boy in 1939 and rose to president and CEO. Except for a break for military service during World War II, Gunkler spent his entire 42-year work life at Lincoln.
Gunkler said, “People move around so much because there’s no loyalty from company to employee. That goes the other way too.” Little things, like picnics and Christmas parties Lincoln gave for its employees, made them feel valued.
In the world before television, local sports leagues were a major source of entertainment. A basketball team was formed at Lincoln, and they needed a few more players. Gunkler was hired because he could play basketball. One person remembered employees were hired right out of high school because they were good pitchers or hockey players.
From a story by Linda Lipp in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
