In her 45 years in banking, ATMs were one of the most revolutionary thing to happen to the industry.
“We didn’t have them when I started in banking,” said Linda Latorre. “We spent a lot of time taking people out of line, taking them over to the ATM and showing them they could withdraw cash at the machine and not have to wait for a teller.”
Latorre was pregnant when ATMs first made their appearance at her bank in 1982. “They were machines… just like today… people didn’t understand them.”
Latorre spent her time Thursday reflecting on her 45 years in the banking business. It was her last day as the branch manager at United Bank in Dumfries.
Latorre is retiring. From here, she’ll go on to travel with friends from her urban line dancing group in Dale City, and, of course, do more urban line dancing.
She started in the banking world at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. From there, she spent 30 years with Bank of America. She later moved to Commerce Bank and took a position in Virginia.
For the last seven years, Latorre has been with United Bank, formerly Virginia Commerce Bank. Working at a bank was never something she’d thought she’d do forever.
“I had worked for a telephone company before I went into banking, and I said “this is what I’ll do until I find something else,'” said Latorre.
That something else came in the form of bank mergers and consolidations. “I went through so many of them; it felt like I was working at a new place every time,” she said.
Expect more banking mergers with the proliferation of online banking, said Latorre, as there’s no longer a need for a bank branch on every street corner. Banking will remain, she said, a personal business. And that’s what she’ll miss the most about her job.
“It’s about helping people, from the new business owner who needs to borrow money, and for the people who don’t know how to handle money,” she said.
It’s also about watching people grow. Many of the people she’s worked with who started as tellers are now bank managers.
From Dumfries, she plans to travel to Jamacia, New Orleans, Atlanta, South Carolina, and to visit her home state of New York.
“A manager once told me you have to work hard and play hard. I’ve done both, but now it’s my time to play.” she said.
