Humanities Iowa announces 2018 board members

IOWA CITY — Humanities Iowa, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, recently announced the election of Jose Amaya to its Board of Directors. The election was held on June 08 during a meeting of the Board of Directors in Iowa City.

Amaya joins the Board from Marshalltown, where he is a professor of English. He has previously served on the Humanities Iowa Board and led diversity efforts at Hy-Vee, Inc. and Rockwell Collins.

In the last year, Humanities Iowa granted $274,563 to Iowa’s history and heritage in the form of grants and partnerships to other non-profit organizations. Last year, Humanities Iowa served more than 562,000 Iowans with humanities programming and projects, such as the Speakers Bureau. Visit www.humanitiesiowa.org for more information on grant programs.

More than 30 years of memories – First Security honors Wilson

After a banking career of more than 33 years, Beth Wilson, vice president/retail lender, plans to retire.

After graduating from Marshalltown High School in 1973, Wilson attended the University of Northern Iowa and the Iowa Bankers Association Consumer Credit School. Wilson’s banking career began during college. She followed in her mother’s footsteps as she also was a banker for many years.

She began her career in Charles City working for Bill Bledsoe at Commercial Bank. “One of my jobs was date stamping installment payments by hand on a ledger,” said Wilson. “My position at Commercial Bank was a newly created one. I learned so much from Bill.”

Her career with First Security started in 1990 with another newly created position. Wilson began as an assistant to Ray Bill, who was a long-time Consumer Lender for First Security. “Ray was a great mentor,” said Beth. When Ray retired in 1997, she was promoted from Consumer Loan Assistant to Consumer Lender.

As First Security grew so did Wilson’s career. In 2001, she was promoted to Vice President of Consumer Lending. The loan department evolved, and in 2003 she was promoted to Consumer and Real Estate Manager. After First Security merged with their holding company banks, there was a need to become even more specialized. For the past 10 years, First Security has benefited from Wilson’s wide range of knowledge as she worked in Residential Real Estate and Consumer Lending.

“When I began at First Security, there was just one personal computer in the bank. The technology changes have skyrocketed since then and have allowed me to help even more people with new home purchases or consumer loans,” Wilson said. “Helping young families purchase their first home has been very rewarding. The people are one of my favorite parts of working for First Security, they have become family.”

There are so many avenues that must be pursued when working with loan applications, regulations and so much documentation. “Besides all the changing processes, we sometimes feel like counselors or investigators as we do our best to help our clients,” Wilson said. “Learning in this diverse and challenging industry has been something I’ve enjoyed.”

Wilson has been very involved with the Charles City community as past Chamber President, Rotary President (2013-14) and a Paul Harris Fellow Award recipient through Rotary. She is a Charles City Ambassador and serves on the Hotel Motel Tax Grant Committee. She is also a Golden Ladle Award winner of the Charles City Chili Cook-Off. She is actively involved with St. John’s Lutheran Church in Nashua, having served as Sunday school teacher, church council member and various committees.

“I have enjoyed being part of a true community bank that has given me many opportunities to be part of Charles City,” said Wilson.

Wilson lives in Nashua with her husband, Rod, who is a retired Nashua-Plainfield teacher. They have two adult children along with six grandchildren. Their son, Jade, his wife, Alisia (Wubbens), and their three children live in Fort Lee, VA, where Jade is a captain in the Army. Their daughter, Lynsey Chyma, and her husband, Dustin, reside in Nashua with their three children.

“I am hoping to travel and visit my family on both coasts and see more of my grandchildren,” said Wilson. She also plans to spend her free time doing more of what she loves: being outdoors, working in her yard and garden, biking, walking, hiking and all family adventures.

First Security will hold a private celebration in her honor on June 27. Wilson’s final day at First Security will be July 2.

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