State Bank of Southern Utah in Orderville celebrates 50 years

On Friday, Novem­ber 21, the State Bank of Southern Utah Branch Office in Or­derville celebrated its 50 Anniversary with a luncheon spread on chicken fingers, mixed green salad, as well as a free, one ticket per customer, raffle of valuable gifts.

Left to right, photos by Jerry Melrose:

• Branch Manager Riley Esplin and the bank’s first manager Ron Heaton, who’s holding a commemorative book celebrating bank’s history.

• Tellers Lorin Robinson and Brittany Lamb are the welcoming faces of the bank’s historic community service to Long Valley and northern Kane County.

The original Branch Manager Ron Heaton, having returned to visit specifically for the celebratory occasion describes its founding, “In the 70s they were talking about building the Kaiparowits Power Plant. They were let­ting unit banks in the state start to branch. So, State Bank said, ‘Well, we’d like to be over in Kane County where they’re going to build the Kaiparowits Power Plant. They don’t know where it’s going to be exactly, so we’ll build a branch in Orderville, which doesn’t have a bank.’ I didn’t know if I’d be in­terested, because I had a good job in Nephi, but I decided I should interview and see. And they said, ‘No, we’re going to build; we’re not going to open in a trailer. We’re going to build a building and do it right.’ I said, ‘Well, I’d like to be there if you decide I’m the one.’ He hired me in ‘75, and I went to work for them. I trained with them in Cedar City where they were building a building. Sometime in October, November, we opened and we got started.”

The current Manag­er, Riley Esplin, whose local family bona fi­des include graduat­ing from Valley High School, where his wife Sarah is History and Social Studies in ad­dition to being mother to their two young sons. Happily he ex­alts, “This is our 50th Bank Birthday! We’re excited to be here 50 years, and have the support we’ve had - and I’ve only been here five years, but it’s been a good five years for me. We’re excited that we’ve been here this long.”

Of the role of his in­stitution, - eight years senior to the Kanab branch - plays through­out Long Valley and North Kane County environs, he states con­fidently, “What keeps us in business is our customers coming in and depositing money and, obviously, doing loans and that helps us grow. We love be­ing here in Orderville and supporting all the high school events. We love being part of this community and hope we can be here another 50 years.”