Linda Heinrich retires next Thursday.

Nearly two decades of learning on the job will come to a close next week, when ACH recon specialist Linda Heinrich retires on October 25.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have people around me who took me seriously when I said I was ready to learn something new,” says Linda, who started in April 1999 and worked in deposit services, customer assistance, and checking before joining the ACH team in 2011. “I have always been a person who enjoys learning, and Cindy Hundt, Jude Lengell, Lyneen Fischer, and Erica Johnson all gave me that chance.”

For Linda, the opportunity to move into new positions meant breaking up what had become routine.

“I’d get to a point where I’d learn a job, and I’d enjoy doing it, but I’d tell myself, ‘There’s gotta be more to learn,'” she says. “That’s just the type of person I am.”

Her current role has been especially fulfilling in this regard, she notes.

“The ACH department is a completely different entity from any other department,” she says. “It’s very, very interesting. You have to really follow the rules — it’s black-and-white; it’s governed by the NACHA regulations. And it’s growing all the time — every year, it gets bigger and bigger.”

Besides learning, Linda has appreciated getting to work with and become close to so many wonderful colleagues at North Shore Bank, she says.

“I have worked with some really good people who have become my ‘forever friends’ — they know who they are, and the list is quite long,” she says. “They’ve made me a better person. It really is true, at least in my case, that your workplace becomes your second home.” She mentions making a “darn good team” with senior ACH specialist Nancy Adamski, but is quick to add, “I have fond memories to cherish of every department I’ve come in contact with.”

“I have worked with Linda in several departments within the CSC for the past 20 years,” Nancy says. “She has been great to work with — always eager to pitch in where needed and learn new things. I will miss her extensive knowledge — I wish we could download all of the information she has stored in her brain! — and her fiendish attention to detail. But most of all, I will miss the friendship we have built over the years. She’s a true, caring friend.”

Linda notes that her co-workers might also miss the treats she’s routinely brought in made by her husband, Frank, who owned Heinrich’s Home Bakery in Wauwatosa for almost 30 years. But the couple will be busy with some other special people.

“We plan on spending a lot of time with our daughter in Mayville and three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren for a while, and then we will be relocating to be closer to our son in Connecticut,” she says. “We are looking forward to our new adventure. It is so bittersweet, but it is the new chapter in our life.”

Linda and Frank will move before summer, but of course, they’ll return to Wisconsin to visit, she says. And she’ll keep the people of North Shore Bank close to her heart wherever she is.

“All I can say is, I hope I helped make the CSC the great department it is,” she says. “Thanks to all who have made my stay here so memorable!”