Mary Hoover has been in the banking business for 30 years and now works as the branch manager of American Marine Bank in Silverdale.

As if her job doesn’t keep her busy enough, Hoover is an active member of Silverdale Rotary and recently joined the Kitsap County HIV AIDS Foundation board.

The Vancouver, British Columbia native entered the banking world fresh out of high school and hasn’t looked back. When she’s not at American Marine Bank or volunteering her time with local organizations, Hoover spends her time with her family, including two children and five grandchildren.

The branch manager recently invited us into her American Marine Bank office in Silverdale to chat about her family, banking career and love of community involvement.

Question: How long have you been with American Marine Bank?

Answer: It’ll be 30 years in October, but they bought Silverdale State Bank in 2001. So I’ve worked for American Marine Bank since 2001. I’ve worked at the Royal Bank of Canada, then I went overseas and I met my husband over there.

Q: How did you meet your husband?

A: I worked for the bank about a year, saved up some money and went backpacking over there. He was in the American Air Force — they had a base out there in Greece and we got married over there.

Q: What are your duties as Silverdale branch manager?

A: I do consumer lending, like home loans and car loans; staffing, you know that kind of stuff; make sure everybody’s doing their jobs and they are, so I don’t have to do a heck of a whole lot.

Q: What do you like the most about your job? The least?

A: The most — The interaction with my customers. The least — You know, I don’t really have a least favorite.

Q: Family?

A: My husband, Miles, and a son, Miles, who’s 30, and Sarah, 25. And five grandchildren. The oldest is 12 and the youngest is 1 1/2.

Q: What is your favorite thing about Silverdale?

A: I love Silverdale. I got lots of favorite things about Silverdale. I like the sense of community it still has. Isn’t this a great place to live? It’s so beautiful.

Q: Do you have a favorite hobby?

A: Reading, crosswords and golf — probably in that order.

Q: How long have you been in banking?

A: I started after high school. I started in ’71 and, on and off, I’ve probably been in banking 35 years is my best guess.

Q: How did you get started in banking?

A: When I got out of high school I had a friend that was working for the Royal Bank and they were looking for nighttime proof operators and I got lucky enough to get hired there.

Q: Did you always want to get into banking?

A: I kind of thought I was going to be a teacher because I didn’t know what else to do. If I hadn’t met and married my husband, maybe I’d be a travel agent, something to get me traveling.

Q: Is it nerve-racking handling lots of people’s money?

A: When you first start, yeah, you’re nervous because people put a lot of trust in you and rightfully so, it’s their money.

Q: What community organizations and activities are you involved with?

A: I’ve been with Silverdale Rotary four or five years and I also am on the board of the Kitsap County HIV AIDS Foundation — that’s fairly new to me, since June of this year. The women here (at American Marine Bank) are really good about volunteering their time, especially to the schools. We help with book sales, we do concessions stands, monitor at WASL testing. We all volunteer at food banks and the bank encourages that. They really want us to get involved. They don’t dictate how to get involved, they just want you to get involved. There’s a difference between getting involved and making contributions. And American Marine Bank actually wants you to get involved.

Q: How did you get involved with the HIV AIDS Foundation?

A: Natalie Bryson is very involved with it and she’s a dear friend of mine. I would give her these bank cards because they have dinners monthly and she would tell me things about that and I really felt like I was unaware of how much of it there was in Kitsap County, not only AIDS, but the education about it. So this was an opportunity for me to learn something and do something, so I thought why not?

Q: How about Rotary? How did you get involved with that?

A: That was Hank Mann-Sykes. He is very persuasive. When it was all said and done, it was at the luncheons, the people really welcome you and are so nice. Until Rotary, I wasn’t doing anything on a regular basis that was really fulfilling.

Q: What is your favorite Rotary event?

A: Whaling Days — it’s just too much fun. I like Whaling Days as a whole; the whole feeling of it is so festive. The pancake breakfast, the vendors, the parade, everything.

Q: What do you enjoy the most about volunteering in the community?

A: I guess the feeling it gives me of doing something worthwhile. There’s a period of your life where your time is very precious. There was a time when I didn’t like to go somewhere after work for work because it intruded in my family time. Now, I will take my grandchildren, we will ring the bells at the mall for the Salvation Army. They’ll do the AIDS Walk with me.

Q: What is something you want to try in your lifetime?

A: I would like to travel to Africa. I want to go to Asia. I guess I want to go around the world, that’s what I want to do.

Q: If you could change one thing about Silverdale, what would it be and why?

A: That’s a hard one. I almost want to say I would incorporate it, but I’m not sure I’m for it. I’m for it in theory, but I’m not sure we’re there in reality.

If I could change something, I’d change the look of Silverdale Way. I’d make it less strip mall-like and more pedestrian friendly. Have you seen University Place? There’s trees and pedestrian crosswalks. It looks like some place you’d want to spend some time. It just relaxes you. We’ve got some great parks here and the Clear Creek Trail, but we need to connect that with Silverdale.

We need a library, a bigger library. A library says something about a community. We need a library that makes a statement.

Q: What one person (or people) has made the biggest impression on your life?

A: Well, definitely my parents, both my mother and my father. My mother’s not living anymore. She had breast cancer. She taught me a lot of things.

My dad’s still living. He’s 96 years old. He’s pretty much blind, he uses a walker and he’s pretty much deaf. He’s the most patient man I know. He never raised his voice to us and there’s seven of us. He can’t do some of the things he used to, but he still does the crosswords. You read him the clue — no, shout him the clue (laughs). And he has the best memory of anyone I know. He’s amazing. They’re definitely my heroes.