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Sturgis Bank Enhances the Customer Experience By Offering Universal Bankers In A Relaxed, Modern Remodeled Lobby.

Sturgis Bank Enhances the Customer Experience By Offering Universal Bankers In A Relaxed, Modern Remodeled Lobby.

The Sturgis Bank main office lobby and front entrance remodel is complete!  We are excited for our customers, business partners, and friends to see the modernized and completely redesigned “teller line” featuring Universal Banking pods. Universal Banking pods invite customers to sit or stand during their transaction which provides increased distancing for privacy and health concerns versus the traditional “teller line”. 

When entering our new lobby, you will be welcomed by a Universal Banker. Their wide-reaching knowledge of Sturgis Bank’s products and services will provide a comfortable and individualized customer experience.  Our Universal Bankers can assist with more than just cash transactions. From opening a new checking/savings/CD account, issuing a debit card, to enrolling in Internet Banking or Cardcash (debit card cash reward program) they are happy to help.  If life has you in a hurry, use the stand-up Universal Banking pod or our drive-up window for convenience. 

Additional lobby features to enhance the customer experience include a self-serve coin counting machine and self-serve computer station. The computer station is available for customers to access their accounts, learn the benefits of Secure Checking, pay bills online, review an account statement and much more.

The Bank’s logo has been refreshed and modernized. The Oakleaf and Acorn represents the history of Michigan as a vast and important contributor to the housing and furniture industries. The oak tree symbolizes strength, stability, protection/growth, and shelter; while the acorn symbolizes potential, growth and prosperity, all corporate values of the Bank. 

Photography by the late Richard Freeman, will be framed as our final addition to the lobby.

We hope you’ll visit us soon to enjoy the Bank’s continued investment in downtown Sturgis! 

“We are pleased to be able to feature the photography from the estate of Richard Freeman. He was a man who cared for his community, as evidenced by his many pictures of Sturgis and the surrounding county. He was not only a generous philanthropist, but he put his time into helping countless public service organizations and community groups. To quote Leonard Eishen, our past President/CEO/Chairman and a peer of Richard, he was ‘Simply a Good Man’. That description means a lot from a man who places personal honor and public service as cornerstones of any man’s life,” said Eric Eishen, Sturgis Bank, President/CEO.

Richard Freeman was a resident of St Joseph County, MI, since his family moved to Sturgis in the 1930’s. Freeman was owner/president of Freeman Manufacturing Company located in Sturgis and an accomplished photographer. 

He and his wife Mildred, resided on Klinger Lake in White Pigeon, there he continued to pursue his hobby in his basement and darkroom area.

Photography had been an interest of Freeman since he was in high School and a local photographer took him under his wing and taught him the technical ropes of the trade. As his interest grew, he set up a dark room in his father’s company, Freeman Manufacturing. There he produced photos for his high school yearbook.

Freeman studied mechanical engineering at Michigan Tech in Houghton before enlisting in the Army Air Force at the outbreak of World War II. While stationed at McCord Field in Washington, he rigged up an attic darkroom at the home of a friend. There Freeman developed photos he took of his Air Force buddies which he sold for a dollar a piece. When shipped out to England for the balance of the war, his parents shipped his camera equipment overseas. 

Largely self taught, Freeman attended the internationally known Fred Piker School of Photography in Vermont. The Fred Piker method of black and white composition relies heavily on Ansel Adams’ Zone System and Previsualization of a Photo concept. Admittedly, Ansel Adams was Freeman’s kindred spirit, he also admired Paul Caponigro, Paul Strand, Edward Weston and Alfred Stiegliz. 

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