Wanda Rednour will take late husband's seat as Du Quoin State Bank chairwoman; Expect grandson Calen Campanella to fill vacancy on bank board
Mrs. Wanda Rednour, 76, wife of the late Du Quoin State Bank chairman and mayor John Rednour, is expected to be seated as the bank's new board chairman at the annual meeting of shareholders in January.
Mrs. Rednour has served alongside her husband on the board for many years. "I guess I've been on the board for probably 20 years," Mrs. Rednour said Thursday. "Our son, John Jr., was on the board before I was," she said.
Rednour's grandson Calen Campanella, son of Judge James Campanella and wife Kathy (Rednour) Campanella, is expected to fill the board vacancy created by the death of John Rednour Sr.
Campanella is a Du Quoin attorney who was recently graduated from law school, passed the Illinois bar exam, and will work alongside brother Jordan in their law offices on East Main Street in downtown Du Quoin.
Mrs. Rednour will chair a bank board whose members also include Du Quoin State Bank president Daniel R. Fulk, executive vice-president Todd Kuhnert, Mrs. Rednour's son John Rednour Jr., daughter Kathy Campanella, daughter Janice Pyle, John Alongi Sr. and Wayne Bigham.
Mrs. Rednour said Thursday, "All we are doing is changing chairman," she said, expecting the transition to be seamless with a reliance on the bank's experienced officers and staff to continue the work as Du Quoin's only locally-owned bank.
She said that her grandson, Calen, has always respected his grandfather's work in Southern Illinois' financial community and will take the work very seriously. She added that son John Rednour Jr. has the same vested interest in the 98-year-old bank, but adds that he will instead continue as manager of the Du Quoin State Fair.
"The fair is the biggest asset we have," Mrs. Rednour said. "We've got to keep it going," concerned that it continue to be managed by someone with a local stake in the community.
"His work benefits the town," she said. She said the entire fair staff is so hands-on that it is unthinkable for anyone who doesn't know the fair and the entertainment business to manage it. "We never want to go back to just having a flea market on Sunday's once a month."
The Du Quoin State Bank is steeped in history.
As important as its $100 million-plus size, the Du Quoin State Bank has an ownership position in Du Quoin's history as one of the four oldest, continuous businesses in the community. Only the historic Linzee Insurance Agency (128 years), the Du Quoin Evening Call (119 years) and Koerner & Sons Heating & Air Conditioning (109 years) share such a history. Others are close.
The 98-year Du Quoin State Bank history contains only four bank presidents: W.W. Parks (1915-1955), Kenneth Cook (1955-1979), Michael D. Travelstead (1979-1994) and Daniel Fulk (1994-present).
A four -inch story in hand-set printer's type in the top left corner of the April 7, 1915 Du Quoin Evening Call set forth the promise of the Du Quoin State Bank--98 years ago.
It read simply:
"The Du Quoin State Bank opened for business today at 1 o'clock. John G. McGrath of Springfield, state bank inspector, was here and praised the officers highly. He was well pleased with the preliminary organization, pronouncing it perfect. He says he is positive of the success of the new institution, as their methods and intentions will promote business success."
The announcement came after three months of work to get the bank organized. There was a meeting of stock subscribers on February 25, 1915 in the west side Miners' Hall for the purpose of electing the first Board of Directors.
The politics during the nation's emergence from the Great Depression resulted in the closure of Du Quoin's then-largest and most substantial bank--First Bank & Trust Co., successor to the city's founding bank--the Exchange Bank of G.S. Smith and his descendants. The bank (now the Du Quoin State Bank) was--and is--located on the southwest corner of East Main and South Division Streets.
The Du Quoin State Bank purchased the bank building from First Bank and Trust's receivers in late 1939 and transacted the first business in this building on January 2, 1940.
The Du Quoin State Bank's assets reached $1 million on February 21, 1935, $5 million by September 7, 1944 and $10 million by October 7, 1960, then $11 million by September 10, 1963. Assets grew exponentially during Perry County's golden era of mining and industry. Today, the bank enjoys assets of well over $100 million.