Dave Krittenbrink’s desire was to be a great broadcaster.

Mike Loosen had other plans for him.

A come-and-go reception is planned from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, April 12, at First Bank of Okarche.

The event will celebrate 44 years of service to the bank - and, by extension, the community of Okarche - by Krittenbrink, who is set to retire at the end of the month.

It’s not a career Krittenbrink had envisioned for himself in 1979 when he was finishing up his course work at El Reno Junior College.

“I was going to school there with plans of going to Oklahoma State, if you can believe that,” said Krittenbrink, a well-known fan of the Oklahoma Sooners.

And the lifelong Okarche resident had a desire to follow a specific path.

It started with journalism school at OSU.

“I wanted to be a broadcaster,” he said. “I wanted to be Curt Gowdy.”

•••

That very well could have been Krittenbrink’s destination.

After graduating from Okarche High School in 1974, Krittenbrink attended junior college for a year and a half.

He was offered a job at Farmers Co-op and accepted it.

Meanwhile, he went to night school to finish up his JUCO courses.

Once that was finished, the big OU fan was most likely OSU-bound.

“That’s where all my buddies were,” he said.

Then came a call from Loosen, the latest in a long line of family members who had owned The First Bank of Okarche since it was established in October 1892.

“He wanted to know if I wanted to come and work at the bank,” Krittenbrink recalled. “I told him, ‘I don’t know anything about banking. I’m just trying to get through college.’” Loosen persisted, Krittenbrink relented and in April 1979, he joined the bank as an assistant vice president.

Suddenly, the would-be broadcaster was a banker and so began a career that has seen him at the bank in parts of six different decades.

It also began his ascent up the bank’s ladder.

Loosen became the bank’s president in 1980 and served in that role until his passing in 1987.

Loosen’s wife, Susan, was president from 1987 until she retired in 2009.

Krittenbrink and Susan Loosen “worked side by side” for a number of years and he also refers to her as a mentor in the business.

As she was president, Krittenbrink served as the bank’s CEO until she retired.

In January 2010, Krittenbrink became the first person not named Loosen to become the bank’s president.

“My dad essentially chose Dave 44 years ago,” said Lisa Loosen Mullen, the daughter of Mike and Susan who serves as the chairperson of the bank’s board.

She represents the fifth generation of the Loosen family at the bank.

“I never figured out what he saw in me,” Krittenbrink said of Loosen.

Mullen knows exactly what it was.

“Dave was on a different path, but my dad saw characteristics in him that were in line with what our family wanted to maintain in the community.

“He’s done an outstanding job.”

When Krittenbrink started, First Bank of Okarche had total assets of $10 million.

“We were very, very small,” he said.

Today, that number has swelled to $142 million.

“It’s been fun and rewarding to get to see the bank grow like it has,” Krittenbrink said.

It wasn’t always easy…. or computerized, which he calls one of the biggest changes to the industry over the years.

Krittenbrink notes there weren’t computers at the bank when he started.

“We had to figure manually the interest to pay on a savings account,” he said. “Everything was by hand.”

Computers lightened that load in 1981.

That same year, Krittenbrink began his foray into the loan side of the business and recalls the very first ag loan he made.

Krittenbrink began typing up the loan application on his typewriter. It got to the interest rate and Krittenbrink was stumped. He walked over to ask Loosen.

“He’s a good customer,” Loosen told Krittenbrink. “It’s 18 percent.”

That’s an astronomical number today, but common at the time.

“It was crazy times,” Krittenbrink said. “That was my first loan I ever made...18 percent. Some of the younger guys here don’t believe that. I take them down and show them the books.

“And that was the best rate. We had some that went up to 24, 25 percent.”

Krittenbrink said the toughest times have been foreclosures.

“Not that we’ve had to do it a lot, but it’s tough,” he said. “And a lot of times it wasn’t really all their fault, it was just where we were at. There were guys paying that 18, 19, 20 percent that never recovered.

“We were in that for several years and they never recovered from it. It wasn’t their fault. It’s just how it was.”

The tough times, he said, are overshadowed by all the good.

“There have been some really awesome times,” he said. “It’s been a great career. There have been challenges along the way, but it’s been fun.”

First Bank offers Krittenbrink a family atmosphere in more than one way.

His brother, Ed, has worked there since 1991.

And there are the rest of the bank’s eight total employees.

“There are people who say it’s a team that we have, but really it’s more of a family,” Krittenbrink said. “We all know everything about each other. When someone is sick, we know what it is. If something is wrong with a spouse, we’re aware of it.

“It’s a family and that’s basically how we run the bank.”

After he retires, Krittenbrink still plans to keep his finger on the bank’s pulse.

He’ll remain on the bank’s board, which he’s served since 1983.

“That will help keep me engaged,” he said.

Krittenbrink will also continue to serve on the Pioneer Telephone Cooperative Board of Trustees, a post he’s held for a number of years.

He’s also on the board of the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine and is the chairman of the finance committee.

“The last two years have been a lot of work with that and I’m going to continue that,” he said.

What else will he do with his time?

“I’m going to spend more time with the grandkids, for sure,” he said. “I’m going to try to take my golf handicap into single digits, so that’s going to take some work.

“Then there’s all the stuff my wife (Darla) has planned for me.

“I don’t think I’m going to have a problem staying busy.”

As friends, family, customers and peers pour into the bank on Wednesday, they’ll offer Krittenbrink a chance to reflect on a career that’s spanned more than four decades.

It’s one, Mullen said, for which he should be proud.

“We have a deep appreciation for Dave and his commitment to not only First Bank of Okarche, but to our family,” she said.

“He has carried out the legacy of my parents, grandparents and family before them very thoughtfully and with great leadership.”

And it all started with that call, one that possibly derailed the career of the next great broadcaster.

“My life got changed when I went to work here,” Krittenbrink said.

“It’s been really cool to get to be a part of 44 of those 130 years.”