Oral History Interview with Glen Leveridge

CASSIE MULLINS: Yeah, I know. It's just funny, some people will be like that. They don't want to talk. Today's date is December twenty second, nineteen ninety-eight. So, we'll just start out, state your name and where we are today.

GLEN LEVERIDGE: My name is .... [Laughter] No, my name is Glen Leveridge. What else did you want me to say?

C.M.: I guess just where you work, a little bit about yourself LEVERIDGE: My name is Glen Leveridge and I am the executive vice-president of Bank One, specifically the Investment Management and Trust group. Kentucky native, grew up in Jackson, Kentucky, Breathitt County. I went to Jackson City High School, and went to Morehead State University and graduated from Morehead in nineteen seventy. Started in banking in nineteen seventy 1:00and been in it almost twenty-eight years.

C.M.: Well, that's a long time.

LEVERIDGE: Yeah it is. Especially with the way the mergers and stuff are going now.

C.M.: Okay, now when did you become a board member of the Hindman Settlement School?

LEVERIDGE: Mike Mullins and I were in the Leadership Kentucky class of nineteen eighty-six.

C.M.: Okay, I guess we should start with that, how you met my dad, and just finding out about the settlement school.

LEVERIDGE: Well, first of all growing up in Jackson, Kentucky, I always had heard of Hindman Settlement School. I played my last high school basketball game against Carr Creek at the Hindman School, the Hindman High School. I always knew the settlement school was there, because we always went to my grandparents' house in Hayman, Kentucky, just outside, between Jenkins and Whitesburg. So, we always drove through Hindman and it just so happens we always stopped, it was halfway between, to get a coke or a soft drink and potato chips or something. So, I always knew where the Hindman Settlement School was, being from eastern Kentucky. And then really beyond 2:00the scope of just knowing where the school was, I didn't know anything about it, until nineteen eighty-six, the Leadership Kentucky class, which was the second class. The Leadership Kentucky began in nineteen eighty-five. Fifty members in a class, from all across Kentucky. And Mike Mullins and I were in the same class. I always had a great affinity for my home in eastern Kentucky. We went to Paducah, we went to northern Kentucky, but we also went to Hazard, Kentucky. And we stayed at La Citadel and we went up early for one day to go down to the deep mine. Well it was really great for me, number one to go home, because I was born in Leatherwood, in a coal camp. So, one of fifty classmates, here I am going back to eastern Kentucky, but I got a chance to watch forty-nine other classmates, maybe three or four others who had some tie 3:00to eastern Kentucky. And maybe I looked the same way they did when I went to Boone County or when I went to Paducah or when I went to Owensboro. But, it was amazing to watch them slowly integrate into eastern Kentucky on a Thursday afternoon and a Friday. And then we went back and cleaned up, because Mike Mullins was going to host our entire group at the Hindman Settlement School. It also was the same time as the Folk Week. Is that it? That's in June?

C.M.: Yeah, yeah.

LEVERIDGE: Okay, so here we go, in a bus over to Hindman Settlement School. I have never, I mean, I was touched. I saw people from Louisville, Paducah, the campus was beautiful, the food was great. We saw clogging, we saw buck dancing, we saw music. And I don't know, just watching these forty-five other people who had never been 4:00there, gain their real sense of appreciation for what they were experiencing, really made my root system in eastern Kentucky feel great. So, then we continued our class. And in nineteen eighty-seven, Mike Mullins called and asked me if I would consider coming on the board. And I said, "yes." I met with him for lunch and he discussed with me the role of a board member. And I guess I've done the board now for almost twelve years. So, I've been on the board actively as a board member since eighty-seven. Selfishly, I wanted, really I was over boarded at the time Mike asked me, with local things as a bank president here in Lexington. But I really wanted, I wanted another tie-in to my home area. And I thought what better opportunity than Hindman Settlement School, plus I wanted to learn more about this school.

C.M. : That's an interesting way 5:00to kind of find out about it.

LEVERIDGE: Isn't that amazing.

C.M.: Because everybody that's on the board, of course, finds out about it in a different way.

LEVERIDGE: In a different way.

C.M.: But, it seems like everybody has some sort of tie, going back there. If they never even lived in eastern Kentucky.

LEVERIDGE: That's true. That's right.

C.M.: They've got something, some sort of tie they know about. I just thought that was a neat way to find out about it.

LEVERIDGE: But, I only knew, the closer I got to the school, the more I realized, to me driving by it, it was the Hindman Settlement School. Literally, I grew up in Jackson, Kentucky and didn't know a thing about the school.

C.M.: Right. That's kind of understandable too.

LEVERIDGE: Of course, that was thirty-five years ago. And I graduated from high school in sixty-six. I think Mike and I are the same age, or close.

C.M.: Yeah. So, after you came on the board and started coming to the meetings and really being involved in what was going on there, I guess just from your perspective of being in that position, what do you feel is the most important aspect 6:00of the school? Maybe to our community, or just the services that they provide, and seeing that from a person who helps make these decisions, that's in kind of a leadership role in the school.

LEVERIDGE: Yeah, okay. And again, I've been on the board for twelve years. And one of the things, my personality, if I'm going to be involved in something, I'm going to be involved. But like I said, I learned a lot more about the school. I found the school to have a very, strong foundation, root system. You know, Solomon Everidge and all these books have been written and the people who really felt a strong need for the school. I found a school that was strong to its mission, and I found a school that had, that everything it did was reflective of the mission. And I found a school that was going beyond the boundaries of being 7:00a resource center for people in eastern Kentucky, such as the dyslexia program, such as the Writer's Conference, such as the Folk Week, such as selling crafts. The library, the Knott County Library, I mean, Hindman Settlement School is the driving force behind that. So, I saw a school that was open and responsive to the needs of the community, but yet not closing its doors or drawing boundaries as to what its total constituency base might be. You follow me? Because a lot of what we deal with now, could be outside the bounds of what we really are chartered and missioned to do. But the dyslexia program ...I go to two board meetings a year up there. I'm on the executive committee, so I meet a lot. But I have never driven back from Hindman that I wasn't touched. I couldn't wait to take my wife there last year, because I love .... We do all the business. 8:00Right now, I'm Finance and I'm in charge of the development. But when you put all that aside, my favorite part of the board meeting is the programming. And when I hear all those program reports from the crafts, from the library, adult education, 4-H, Phelps, I mean, I am always touched. We have emotions there, and when you see the deep appreciation for what people really gain as a result of this school it makes you feel good. And it is hard to bring that back, without losing in translation.

C.M.: Right.

LEVERIDGE: Because for four or five years, I kept telling my wife, so I took her last year. Joe Graves and I took our wives up, and we spent the night. And we sat in the rocking chair, and we watched the sun set. And then the next day, when my wife, who really has an affinity for helping and seeing kids being helped, 9:00and really appreciates education. You get very emotional when you see just what the school is doing. And when you are a part of that, to whatever degree, you get a little piece of that yourself, that makes you feel good.

C.M.: That is true. I mean, of course, I've been there my whole life. I told somebody it would be impossible for me to sit down and describe things and now here I am asking everybody to answer my questions. [Laughter] LEVERIDGE: But you probably, things, not that you'd ever take for granted, it's amazing when you collectively put everything in perspective that people feel for that school.

C.M.: That is definitely true. And that's what's so interesting talking to students, and then doing this part, where I'm talking to board members. Because you are part of the school. You are part of the school, every single board member is, but in a different way.

LEVERIDGE: That's true.

C.M.: And that's why it's so interesting. Because like I said, you help with this development, where it's going, where it's been. 10:00I mean, I've talked to some board members who've been on there for thirty years and things like that, so they can give the perspective of the change and things like that. And you've been in it for twelve years now. What are some things that, I guess what are some things as we are going into another century, new ideas, new projects, what do you think is going to be essential to keep the settlement school going? Whether it be different programs or keeping things the way they are. What do you think is going to be essential to the Hindman Settlement School as we move into the year two thousand?

LEVERIDGE: Well, I think we need to constantly, I mentioned about the mission, we need to always do everything that is reflective of the mission. And not get too called away as to doing some things that we really shouldn't be doing, and I don't know what those might be. But as long as I am with the board, I'm going to always vote to stay in tuned to program. But there are a lot of things that build up on the program. We started a project known as Debbie's Kitchen. Debbie used to work there as the cook, 11:00now look what we have there. That beautiful facility and the loading dock and the being able to get access to it. I mean, the food at Hindman Settlement School is out of this world.

C.M.: Oh yeah.

LEVERIDGE: You may say, well is that part of the program? Well yes it is. I mean it fosters and drives a lot of that program content. I think we are going to be challenged too, on the development side. That's what we are calling Institutional Advancement. And what we are trying to do is put a program together to coincide with the school's, is its one hundredth birthday?

C.M. : Uhhmm.

LEVERIDGE: In the year two thousand one.

C.M.: Two.

LEVERIDGE: Two.

C.M.: Two thousand two, yeah.

LEVERIDGE: So, what we are trying to do, is lay the foundation for a completely defined development/institutional advancement/giving program. We want it to be very broad based. We want a very broad based constituency, much like the area which we serve. But we feel like if we can gain the steam and get the foundation laid, we can identify a lot of opportunities 12:00for program. Now beyond [the] program, you know, we are going to take a good strong look at that. But we've held hands as a committee and really guided ourselves to be truly defined to evaluating our current programs and enhancing the programs which we have. And also looking at other opportunities. Now there are some things that are getting ready to happen in Hindman that will help us. We want to continue the library, but that is a strain on us to provide library services for all of Knott County. So, if we can tie in the community college, if we can utilize the opportunity which we have for Hindman to be a model city and still keep our ....I think if we do that right and join hands, we will be able to do, left with to do what we do best. And that will be reflective of the mission of the school and programming, especially dyslexia and adult education.

C.M.: Yeah, that's interesting too, 13:00talking about the one hundredth anniversary, because that is a long time. You've got a lot of schools maybe that developed around the same time, but there's not many left, not like that.

LEVERIDGE: No.

C.M.: What do you think about that? Thinking about, oh, we're getting ready for the hundredth anniversary of the Hindman Settlement School. What are your thoughts on that?

LEVERIDGE: The same thing I do here at the bank each day. You're coming up into an environment, Cassie, just this year alone I've given one thirty year service award. Every month we have a breakfast and we do birthdays and service awards. Just within the past year, I've given one thirty, a couple of twenties, maybe one twenty-five, two or three tens. And you just, young people coming in today, they are supposed to change their jobs, five or seven times in their career. I came into an environment where you were rewarded by staying for a long period of time. For Hindman Settlement School to have been there a hundred years, is not only reflective of the need, 14:00but proper management, proper fiscal responsibility. Mike himself is, he's twenty-five years, or pushing twenty something.

C.M.: He'll be twenty-two.

LEVERIDGE: Twenty-two years. And I mean if that isn't dedication to that, Mike I mean, with his intelligence and his network of people he knows, and his ability to network and just his enthusiasm and drive. I mean he has made a lot of sacrifices to continue to be a part of that school, because he believes in that school. And that comes across in just day to day work with him. He's pushed himself, that I've even worried about his health. I've pushed him to get physicals and stay on top of everything. But a hundred years says a lot to me, but now to me personally. A lot of people don't pay that much attention, but I think those people who are involved in our school certainly do.

C.M.: In terms of, you were talking about 15:00earlier, I'm just kind of going back to some things. I know I'm jumping around. About the staff, you said you have always been moved when you've come to the meetings, to see the people that work there. What are your impressions of the staff? The people that work there, that sit around those tables with you. I know that you don't know them on a personal level, but you know the work that they do, based on the reports they are giving and the meetings that you have. What's your impression of these people?

LEVERIDGE: I'm really impressed with their commitment to the school, and they truly believe in what they are doing and they truly have a passion for it. And I've told Mike, and sometimes it is very difficult.. ..Our board meetings, we try to get so much in to a small period of time. Mike is so respectful of everyone's time, because we all come from different places. But I say, Mike, please don't cut their reports. We applaud after every report. And they are very professional. They are very well-educated and trained in terms of what they are doing. They truly have a passion for what they are doing. But what I like about it, as professional as they are in what they are drawing 16:00to their line of responsibility to the school, they are not tied just to that. They assist and help others. The adult education, I can't remember her name, she's .... not only does she do that, but she helps set the table for lunches when we're there. And Mrs. Titsworth, what a great job she does. The Mennonite program, I mean to watch, I've forgot her name, make her presentation for the library. And her husband, does all kinds of cooking and cleaning and maintenance and wiring and technology.

C.M.: Yeah, that's John and Carol.

LEVERIDGE: The Mennonites, I mean everybody there truly has a feel for it. But when we sit at that rectangle table and then behind me there you've got three rows of dedicated staff people who really are truly professional and truly have a passion for the school, beyond the scope of just being a job. I mean, when they make their reports, 17:00they get emotional. When they talk about someone who is learning to read for the first time and they see the joy in that person's eyes and that person go back, that is very touching to me.

C.M.: Yeah, I think so too. Well, I guess, I mean it's obvious just from talking to you and it has been talking to pretty much every one that's been on the board, that is something they like to do. Because it is a service. It's a huge sacrifice of your time and your abilities. I mean to come from Lexington to go to Hindman to go to these meetings. What makes you do this? What makes you say, what makes you pencil in every November and May, I'm going to go to Hindman and go to these meetings? Or let Mike Mullins barge in my office whenever he wants. What makes you do that?

LEVERIDGE: [Laughing] Well I tell you, you know, it's really interesting. And I tell Mike, I give him a tough time, because the May meeting always coincides with the Derby.

C.M.: I know.

LEVERIDGE: And I'm required to do a lot of entertaining and then my anniversary is November the eighth, and it's always 18:00right around the eighth.

C.M.: You came on your anniversary once didn't you? [Laughing] LEVERIDGE: Right. I don't have a prayer, Mike always gets me either with the Derby or anniversary. I don't know. I don't think of it that way. And again, I use the term "selfishly". I give a lot of my time, and I am giving resources. And I continue to give more money as I have opportunity to the school. But I wanted to keep some ties close to eastern Kentucky. Plus I wanted to give back to eastern Kentucky, to the community. Little did I know, that when I joined that I would be as involved in the school as I am. Because I truly believe in it and I love what it's doing. It helps me on a Friday afternoon, selfishly it gets me out of the bank and I lock my doors. And I love driving home. And I stop at Jackson, at the Hardees, and all those guys that know my dad. I just go in and get a coke. 19:00It feels good to go Hindman, and I check in at the lodge. I go down for dinner and I'm always in a leadership role, so I've got to do a meeting that night. I enjoy sitting in the rocking chair and having breakfast that morning. And selfishly for me, Cassie, it helps me. I'm a better person when I drive back on Saturday afternoon and come home for the weekend. It's like, Mike and I have talked. My weeks are much better when I go to church on Sunday and Sunday night. It's kind of like a Norelco charger, your razor. I have to be plugged in. And please, even though those are the two board meetings, Mike and I talk two or three times a month. I host luncheons here. The development committee meets here. Your brother, we had a lunch at Henry Clay's home. So in addition to my giving of my time, and I think I do provide some leadership in different capacities. And I 20:00am a financial contributor to the school. I seek opportunities to host events for Mike, the kick-off of the kitchen. We hosted that in a reception here and we picked up a commitment for fourteen thousand. Now that thing cost a half a million dollars, but that fourteen thousand was the seed money.

C.M.: That helps.

LEVERIDGE: I really don't think about it. And I honestly, honestly don't dread it. I look forward to going, except Mike he kills me, it does compete with the Derby and my anniversary. [Laughter].

C.M.: That's pretty bad.

LEVERIDGE: But those are the only two things I have to worry about.

C.M.: Well, Glen is there anything, I'm just kind of asking you general things, and trying to get a picture. Is there anything maybe I've left out? Things that you've thought about while we've been talking?

LEVERIDGE: No, I think we've covered a lot. Not really, just that I really see it as a challenge to spread the word about the school. And whatever ways that we can do that, I want to be a part of it. And I truly believe in it and I just want to be a contributing board member. 21:00Any resources I can allocate personally, or under this bank with the investment side. Anything we can do, I try to provide with Mike.

END OF INTERVIEW