Pub. 7 2012-2013 Issue 4

November | December 2012 13 Extraordinary Service for Extraordinary Members. shop in fast-growing communities far afield fromGothenburg. He has chosen instead to grow his own market, and the bank has grown along with it. Deep Roots in Deep Soil Gothenburg is situated about in the middle of Nebraska, two and a half hours west of Lincoln in the Platte River valley. Before the city was founded in 1882, the Oregon Trail wound through the area, as did the route of the Pony Express. Named after Gothenburg, Sweden, the city has been a center of agri- culture from the start, with corn and soybeans the dominant crops, along with cattle ranching. In addition to its rich soil and tall prairie grass, Gothenburg (andmuch of the state) sits atop the vast OgallalaAquifer. That, plus a network of irrigation canals and reservoirs built in the 1930s and 1940s, have insulated the region’s crops from this year’s drought. Matt Williams’ great-grandfather, a Pennsylvania coal miner, came west for health reasons in the last part of the 19th century and founded two Gothenburg institutions that survive to this day under family control: the 96 Ranch and the Gothenburg State Bank; the bank was founded in 1902. Another local institution, the Presbyterian Church, resulted, in part, from a Williams family member’s vision—in this case, Matt Williams’ great-grandmother. She and five other women organized the formation and building of the church in 1904. It has been a big part of the family’s life ever since. A Lifelong Lesson Despite having a bank in the family, it was farming that shapedMatt Williams’ work ethic. Even though his father was the bank’s president, he alsomanaged the ranch, where young Williams spent many summers and weekends working. He hauled hay, worked cattle, built and mended fences, and did a host of other farm chores. “You worked no matter what the weather,” he recalls. “It didn’t matter if it was 100 degrees, because the job had to be done.” One summer, when he was about 15, Williams was work- ing on a new bale wagon with the farm’s foreman. After a stint driving, it was his turn to pile bales on the wagon. He tried to keep the pace set by the foreman, but he realized he couldn’t do it. Mortified, he called “time out.” As he says, he hadn’t been prepared for the job—either physically or in terms of Uncompromising Quality. Baird Holm represents À nancial institutions and bank holding companies, in all aspects of banking and lending law. To learn more about our practice, please visit our website at www.bairdholm.com. 1500 Woodmen Tower Omaha, NE 68102 www.bairdholm.com 402.344.0500 Jonathan J. Wegner “Their legal guidance is practical, ef À cient, and positively delivered.” Chambers USA Q Leadership Ride — continued on page 14