People's Bank staff carries on after death of president

An unexpected death changes the face of a family, but it also means significant changes to a small business if that person was in charge. The work doesn't stop and someone else must step into the leadership role.

People's Bank of Altenburg and Jackson lost longtime bank president Lew B. Harmon Jr., 67, Jan. 1 to a heart attack. Harmon died at Callaway Community Hospital in Fulton, Mo.

People's Bank's new president is Matt Puchbauer, 40, of Oak Ridge.

Harmon's absence was like losing a close friend, said executive vice president Angie Oberndorfer.

"He was not like a 'boss' in that he treated everyone so friendly," she said. "He'd do janitor work or change light bulbs. He'd do all that little stuff that needs to be taken care of -- all the way up to making big loans."

Harmon would come out of his office often to work with the bank staff, sometimes even manning the drive-through window.

"He'd ask us how we were, but he wasn't just asking about us in general," said bank teller Diane Mangels, "But also about our families, as well. You felt comfortable talking to him."

The former president liked to talk to new people, she said. "He never saw a stranger."

Harmon was born April 23, 1936, in Cape Girardeau to Lewellen and Lucille Palmer Harmon. His wife, Jean, survives. The couple have two sons, Robert Harmon of Raleigh, N.C., and Byron Harmon III of Evanston, Wyo., and two grandsons.

Harmon also was former president of Jonesburg State Bank for 10 years and previously owned Harmony Homes in Columbia.

Puchbauer has also lived a banking life. After graduating from Southeast Missouri State University, he served more than five years in the Missouri Division of Finance's Sikeston district as a commercial examiner.

He then spent four years at First National Bank in Sikeston in credit, loans and management. Following that, he worked eight years at First National Bank in Malden, Mo., as a commercial lender and senior loan officer. The two banks were not affiliated.

In the fall of 2003, he took a job at US Bank in Cape Girardeau and purchased his parent's farm in Oak Ridge with a brother. He lives there now with his wife, Nancy, and their 7-year-old son, Andrew. But Puchbauer was only on the job in Cape Girardeau for two months when the People's Bank spot opened with Harmon's death.

"This was the opportunity of a lifetime for a young banker," Puchbauer said. "It was a natural fit because my background is in community banking. We're not so big that we don't know a lot of our customers by their first names."

Oberndorfer said Puchbauer brings new enthusiasm to the bank's two branches and their 16 employees.

"Getting someone like Matt, being younger, will bring in new ideas," she said.

Word spread fast in Frohna-Altenburg about the new hire, said George Thurm, former People's Bank president and current board member.

"People didn't know the name, but they knew we'd hired someone," Thurm said. "They were curious."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160