Happy Birthday Frank Sarver
As most of you know, FedComp got its start in 1982 at IBEW 968 FCU in Parkersburg, WV. After retiring as a union electrician, my grandfather took over management of this small credit union. He did everything by hand. He had hand ledgers, calculated interest with a desktop calculator and once a quarter went through every share account to pay dividends. But, as a crusty guy in his mid-sixties, he was a visionary. Having known him all my life, it’s hard to believe, but he knew there had to be a better way than doing all of this work manually. Before spending $7,000 on a computer with a 7MB (yes, megabyte) hard drive, he swapped 8 inch floppies based upon his members’ account numbers. You could only put 150 members on one floppy!
As I sat in that credit union as a 19-year-old college student writing software (I sure didn’t have my own computer then), he watched over my shoulder, questioning everything. It took almost a year to get a fully operational system and we hand converted members at least a half dozen times. But, what we had worked very well and from it grew the system that is the foundation for this company.
Although my grandfather passed away in the early 90’s, today, August 1, 2017, marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. Please join me in remembering Frank Sarver’s contribution to FedComp and small credit unions.
John A. Sarver II
