SIG 4 Page 7 H: At least, in the beginning [of their employment]. I don't know about today, presently, but it's probably not like that anymore because [Sea Island company] was [a lot] smaller [then]. It seems to be a characteristic [in earlier times] that people could multi-task. M: Well, probably because it was small, like you said. As we have grown in the credit union, I did everything. I don't know, maybe that's because it's a woman thing, but I did everything. It's hard, even now, after all this time, and of course you have to do it and it gets easier, also, to let go of things. I did everything. As we grew, I had somebody that helped me and then she became the teller, but I was still the teller. That's true in the industry of the credit unions. I can think of the Interstate Credit Union in Jesup. They started with the wife and husband. It was the Interstate Pulp Mill, in Jesup, Georgia. They started with the husband and wife in their dining room; they ran the credit union. It was very small. It was for those employees. They grew, so they did everything. He would go to the mill and they would want a loan application and he'd bring it home to 'mother,' is what he called Imogene, Boatright. He would bring it home to mother and they would approve the loan and then he'd take the money, back to the mill. That's the nature of credit unions. Like I said, it's the cooperative thing. I did everything. Now, even in the past five to six years, we have become to the point where we're starting to departmentalize. I have an accounting lady who does all of our back office and accounting functions. I'm not a teller anymore, unless it's an emergency, and then they really don't want me to be, but we have our loan department. I have two loan ladies. I have an assistant, who I could not operate without, who does my secretarial things. Over the years, because of our growth, we've had to do that. It just gets more than one person can handle. H: In [earlier] times, such as in the 1970s, African Americans were unable to get loans from the banks. [Some Sea Island employees] from previous interviews say one of the functions of the credit union was to be able to loan [African Americans] money. Did you get a lot of African-Americans in during the early times? Did they borrow money for houses? M: Oh, sure, certainly. I think one of the first loans we made, and I think it's on the St. Simons office, we framed. You know how Burger King, for example, will put their first dollar up? Well, we framed our first loan. It was on one small piece of paper. It was for $250, I think. It was the very first loan, we made. That was to an African-American. I don't remember what the purpose [for the loan] was. H: I just thought that was a great thing at that time because they couldn't go to banks. M: That's why Mr. Gibson did that. That's, literally, why he formed the credit union.