Lavinia Peters Member of the Year Award

It was on January 28th, 1953 that Lavinia Peters first walked through the doors of Verity Credit Union.

Of course, at that time, we weren’t called Verity. We were NW Federal Employees Federal Credit Union. We weren’t at our nice modern building on Meridian either. In fact, we were in a very small, slightly rundown building on 2500 Elliott. Lavinia remembers that Bob Salen was the president of the credit union (but back then, CU presidents were simply referred to as the “credit union manager”).

Through the years we have helped Lavinia with the things she is most proud of – assisting her son through medical school, purchasing her two condos and buying her 1978 hot pink Dodge Aspen.

That’s right. Lavinia (also known as the “Pink Lady”) drove a hot pink Dodge Aspen for many years. The staff at Verity would love to see her drive up, with her PKLADY license plate and her great smile, when she visited the branch every Saturday.

Lavinia knows most of us by our first names. She has kept track of many of us who have left. She stops by just to say “Hi!” She refers Verity to her friends and neighbors. She has been known to catch a dividend calculation mistake or two over the years. She gives us suggestions. She gives us praise.

And on October 25, we honored her with the first ever “Verity Member of the Year Award.” After she gave her acceptance speech, the room exploded in applause. She received a standing ovation from all of Verity’s 100 employees.

It is not often that a company can call a woman like Lavinia Peters a friend. We are proud and fortunate that we can.

Lavinia, we appreciate you.