On March 14, 1918 Firemann Legreid came kicking and screaming into the world. Ninety years later, he's still hanging tough though his knees went south a few years ago and have not returned. Lyndon and Janet Olson stopped to visit Firemann and the four of us drove over to the new Bank of North Dakota building near Memorial Bridge in Bismarck. The nation’s only state-owned bank, BND was established in 1919 to encourage and promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota. It turned a 36 million-dollar profit in 2005.
Firemann, Lyndon and Janet walk up to the southwest corner of the building.
Inside the lobby, Lyndon examines a photo mosaic of the new structure.
Up close, one can see some of the photos comprising the mosaic. Most of the 1,100 photos are of former and current BND employees. The young man with a shovel is the son of BND's president, Eric Hardmeyer.
Looking up to the ceiling from the lobby, you can appreciate the work of local architect, Bill Ellig.
Eric met us in the lobby and gave us a tour of the 13 million-dollar building. Eric is a fellow Mottonian who worked his way up through the ranks, joining BND in 1985. He is one of twelve children. His father, Ted, was my confirmation sponsor and, in the the Catholic tradition, you are given a confirmation name which is added to your birth name. My "full name" then is James Morris Theodore Vukelic. Ted was mayor of Mott for decades, operated a farm implement business, and served in the state legislature. Eric's brother Steve and I were close friends and had several adventures together "back in the day." One of the photos on his desk shows Eric and his dad standing in the middle of Brown Avenue, Mott's main street.
The third-floor conference room on the west end of the building sports lovely leather chairs made at Rough Rider Industries, an adjunct to the North Dakota State Penitentiary.
Eric demonstrated some of the state-of-the-art equipment in the conference room. Microphones are embedded in the conference table in front of each chair. With the remote control in his hand, Eric said he could communicate visually with people around the globe. The remote also can draw shades on the windows which almost encircle the room, operate television monitors, fire up power point presentations and much more. In his self-deprecating way, Eric said the remote was so intuitive and user-friendly that even he could operate it.
Something tickled Lyndon's funny bone.
The consummate host, Eric offered to take this photo of his guests. Nice guy, that Eric.
We will be celebrating Firemann's 90th in a bigger way late next month.