Palmer woman proud to belong

PALMER -- When the Matanuska colonists moved to the Valley in 1935, carving out a life in the frontier was by no means an easy task, but for more than 10 years, colonists toiled on their own, relying on the good will of neighbors and friends when they were down on their luck.

Although some might say that reliance was simply how things were done in those days, others may point out that it was a lack of available options that provided some of the glue binding the community. For that first decade, colonists and late-coming cooperative members short on cash and having a tough time either had to stick it out with the help of their friends or find a more lucrative life elsewhere. Fifteen-minute loan approvals and revolving loans were unheard of in those days, and Alaska had few banks -- even fewer who would consider loaning money to down-on-their-luck colonists already struggling to prove up on their property.

And so it was that in 1948 a group of Matanuska co-op members banded together to form their own credit union.

"The credit union was started here in the Valley primarily because people didn't have access, really, to loans," said Al Strawn, the general manager of Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union. "It was kind of a new idea at the time to start a member-owned cooperative."

Although she had only recently moved to Palmer and did not attend the July 8, 1949, credit union organizational meeting, Palmer resident Harriet McRae wasted little time getting involved with the organization. McRae, apparently one of just two remaining charter members, became the holder of account number 34 in September of that year.

"As far as I know, it is believed Jimmy [Ehrhart] and I are the only original members," McRae said from her Palmer home this week. "I've been a member for 53 years."

Ehrhart, McRae explained, received his membership in the co-op through his grandmother, Lulu Rasmussen, who opened account number 37 in his name when he was three years old.

McRae was recently honored at MVFCU's annual meeting for her historic involvement with the organization. And although McRae served on the credit union's board of directors for several years as a director and as secretary of the board, it seems to be the community togetherness and unity toward a common goal that she cherishes most about the experience.

McRae recalled an early meeting of the union members, held in the second story of what was then the co-op recreation hall. The members sat at desks, she said, in the cramped attic.

"You couldn't stand up in it unless you stood in the middle," McRae said.

But cramped spaces didn't hamper the group. By the first annual meeting, held just six months after the credit union was formed, the 41 members had approved two loans and was working on a third. A profit of $4.97 was made, 20 percent of which went into an account to cover the costs of "bad debts." And although the credit union was primarily operated out of the homes of volunteers until the mid-60s or early 70s, members agreed by the second meeting to raise the funds to purchase file cabinets to hold member account ledgers. Those funds were raised, at McRae's suggestion, by holding a few bingo games within the community, she said.

The Palmer based credit union, which now boasts approximately 24,000 members and six branches across the Valley, still smacks of that hometown effort. That, McRae said, and the hometown feel of Palmer, are what makes life here worthwhile.

"I love Palmer, I really do," McRae said. "I think it's a neat town. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else -- and that's the truth!"