After almost 30 years, Nancy Kaye will retire from North Shore Bank on December 30.

Nancy at Jackson Park in 2018.

“I just turned 75, and I’m thinking, How much more can you do?” says the teller, who works out of Jackson Park, but spends most of her time helping customers Wednesdays and Fridays at two local senior living facilities, Wesley Park and Wilson Commons. “I’ve got things I want to do while I’m still healthy. It just came to me that this is the right time. Thirty years is a long time. And I started my first job when I was 15, so I’ve really been working for 60 years.”

“Nancy has been instrumental in providing the best, personalized customer banking services to residents at the senior centers,” says her boss, area manager Alfredo Martin. “She has earned the respect and admiration of her clients, as well as all of us who have worked with her throughout the years.”

Shorelines checked in with Nancy on her 25th and 20th anniversaries with the bank. Plenty has changed since then.

The COVID-19 pandemic, fortunately, affected her work less than you might have guessed.

“I’d wear a mask and take my temperature, and I got tested every week,” she says. She also had a plastic screen between her and her customers. “Covid did have an effect on them. Maybe 10 or 15 of them would have it each week. They’d have to stay in their rooms.”

Her relationships with those customers went beyond banking. She participated in many of the senior centers’ activities, including birthdays, events like an Elvis Presley night (“I’m an Elvis nut,” she says), and of course, funerals as well. “I will miss the camaraderie,” she says.

She will not miss getting out of bed for work, however.

“It will be nice to roll over and realize I don’t have to get up,” she says. “I don’t mind working, but the winters were tough on me, with all the traveling back and forth to the senior centers.”

“Nancy is an exceptional person, period! Definitely one of a kind,” says senior commercial loan specialist Yvette Jankowski, whose eight-year work relationship with her developed into a friendship. “Her kindness is contagious — whether working with customers or co-workers, she has always given 110 percent with a smile. Working with her was an absolute pleasure.”

“What a great co-worker and friend!” says sales and marketing analyst Brent Neumann, who first worked with Nancy over 20 years ago. “She even invited me on her bowling team knowing I was lousy! Nancy has always been loved by both customers and co-workers. She has a sense of humor and positive attitude that cannot be beat.”

Though her husband died in 2019, Nancy’s daughter and 17-year-old granddaughter now live with her, which should keep her busy. And she’ll have many fond memories to reflect on.

“I’ve enjoyed working here — Badger Bank at first, then North Shore, and 15 years at the senior places,” she says. “I’ve had a good time and met plenty of nice people. It’s been a very good 30 years.”