Sherri Wilson retires after 26 years at Century Bank


Sherri Wilson, who retired Friday after 26 years with Century Bank of the Ozarks in Gainesville, shows the gifts she was given during her retirement party Thursday, including pictures and a plaque resting on a porch swing that was a gift from her colleagues in the bank’s loan department. Also pictured are her boss, Bill Trivitt, and Century Bank president and CEO Chris Harlin. Photo submitted.

Sherri Cockrum Wilson retired Friday after working 26 years with Century Bank of the Ozarks in Gainesville. She had worked some other jobs – in retail sales in Springfield, at Town & Country Supermarket and at the Ozark County Recorder’s Office –  between her graduation from Gainesville High School in 1974 and when she joined the bank in 1991. But once she settled into her new job as a secretary in the bank’s loan department, she stayed. 

She met her current husband when a former bank co-worker, Lynda Smith, introduced Sherri to her nephew, Rod Wilson. They were married in 1993 and settled in Mammoth, where Rod farms in addition to working at Eaton Corporation in Mountain Home, Arkansas. 

Sherri has continued primarily as a secretary in the bank’s loan department, most recently assisting Bill Trivitt, not only in banking duties but also in organizing the teams and schedules for Gainesville’s summer ball program and also helping with the ball program’s annual fundraising auction – two of the community activities the bank supports. 

A lot has changed in the 26 years she’s worked at the bank, Sherri said, including desktop equipment and compliance regulations. But many of the colleagues who were working at the bank when she started are still there, she said, and the friends she’s made at the bank and in the community are what she’ll miss most, she said.

“I was so amazed at all the people who came in and called when they heard I was retiring,” she said. “I was very humbled.” She also received cards and a bouquet of flowers, she said.

In retirement, she’s looking forward to spending more time with her family, including son Dustin Hudson of Aldrich and daughter Mindi Lawson and her husband Andy of Gainesville, son Kase Wilson of Gainesville and Rod’s son Kyle Wilson and wife Uzma of Chicago. She’s especially eager to spend more time with her grandchildren, Colton and Rhett Lawson and Luke Wilson. She’s also glad to have more time to spend with her mother, Gertrude Cockrum, who lives in Gainesville with her sister, Nadine Johnson. For years, Sherri has visited the two 90-something loved ones each workday on her lunch hour and usually twice on Sundays. 

She’s also planning to spend time enjoying the new porch swing given to her by her loan department colleagues at the retirement party the bank held for her Thursday afternoon. Trivitt even made her a barnwood table to set beside the swing “for my tea,” Sherri said, laughing. The bank also presented her with a bracelet, and Terri Shipley made her a plaque that sums up Sherri’s years at the bank. 

It says, “Here’s to the months that turned to years with the friends that turned to family.”

Ozark County Times

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