By Lauren Saslow
After 57 years of dedicated service, Sunshine Bank honored Frances Register with an open house retirement party earlier this month at the Brandon Branch. Register, a Plant City resident, said, “This is a bittersweet end. I love the customers and the community. There is a satisfaction in helping people.”
Register graduated from Turkey Creek High School (now a middle school) with the class of 1956. She attended Polk Community College (now Polk State College) where she earned an Associate’s in accounting, then attended American Savings and Loan Institute (now no longer in existence) where she earned her Bachelor’s in management.
“I always had a knack for numbers and math,” explained Register. “I had a desire to help the community with savings and loans.”
The Sunshine Bank Plant City Branch opened in 1954, and Register began working for the company in May 1958 as a teller. She ultimately was promoted to accounting, new accounts and loans.
Senior Vice President at the Plant City Branch, Paul J. Hackney worked with Register for over 28 years.
“She has been a friend and a guiding light through the good and bad, business and personal,” he remarked. “She offered advice that was rooted in integrity. I have never seen any banker who had such loyal customers. She will be missed by all.”
She transferred to the South Brandon Branch where she was promoted to branch manager and assistant vice president before transferring to the South Plant City Branch. Her final transfer was to the Brandon Branch in October 2014 where she was branch manager and vice president, and where she remained until her retirement. Every colleague who wrote to me on her behalf described Register as a supportive and dedicated manager and friend.
She described the highlight of her career as seeing potential for the whole banking industry. She is proud that her son, Alan Register, has pursued a banking career in Birmingham, Ala.
Register has been married to her husband, Henry, for 59 years. Together they had two children (their daughter, Rosemarie Register Cook, is now deceased), four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Never one to sit idle, Frances Register has been active in The First Baptist Church of Plant City; served four years on the Board of Directors for Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association, Inc., and served on The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors as secretary/treasurer for five of her six years of service, and also as Chairman of the Ambassador and Membership Committees. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Brandon Regional Hospital, and walks two and a half miles every day.
For more information on Sunshine Bank Brandon location, call 689-1271 or visit www.sunshinestatefederal.com,
