The Innisfil Farmers' Credit Union

- jim Young

“Now if I come on by, when you’re out in the sun, can I wave at you just like a friend?

These days when everyone’s taking so much, there’s somebody giving back in.

Straw hats and old dirty hankies, moppin’ a face like a shoe,

Thanks for the meal, here’s a song that is real, from a kid from the city to you. 

- Murray McLauchlan

In 1944 a small group of mostly farmers contributed $2 each to form the “Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union”. The IFCU opened with assets totalling just $40. 

My Uncle Harold Wallace was one of those farmers. You may remember my Uncle Harold from my Great North Arrow Article “Bacon And Eggs In The Summer of ‘66”, June 2022, Issue 6, Volume 9.

Two dollars may not seem like a lot of money now but in 1944 and especially for a farmer, it was hard earned money that was received from the fruits of their labour, often produced literally from blood, sweat and tears.

With no office to work from, the IFCU was set up in the home of Treasurer-Manager Lloyd Cumming, also a farmer, before moving to an office in back of the Stroud post office. Then, on August 15, 1959, the Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union settled into an office built for them in Youngs IGA Plaza in Stroud where they would conduct their business until 1975. 

William Young, president of the Innisfil Development Corporation
hands over the keys of the new offices to Lloyd Cumming,
Treasurer-Manager of the Innisfil Farmer's Credit Union.
August 15, 1959.

I remember the day my mother took me to the Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union to open my first bank account in the late 1950s. I was about 6 or 7 at the time. Lloyd Cumming was a towering, intimidating man who, despite his best attempts to offer me a friendly smile, nonetheless still terrified me. 

Mr. Cumming looked down over the counter between the panes of wavy glass dividers. “I’ll give you any easy account number to remember,” I remember him saying to me. “It’s 1-2-3-0.” 

And that was my bank account number for the next 60 years until I closed it out in 2016 just prior to moving to Loring.

The Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union was there for me when my father cosigned for my first loan to cover my college tuition. By then Merv Wice was the Treasurer-Manager. Merv’s genuinely friendly smile was not intimidating. 

When I went back to Merv a few years later to arrange for a car loan, I offered to have my father come in to cosign again but Merv told me it wasn’t necessary. We shook hands and he deposited the money in my account #1230 that day.

A few years later when I was married and supporting a wife and child, I needed another loan. The Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union was there for me again. The only problem was, I was temporarily out of work and collecting Unemployment Insurance. Except it wasn’t a problem for Merv who knew I was good for my word and once again offered me a loan on a handshake with no cosigner and no job.

On one occasion I was overdrawn at the bank. Instead of bouncing a cheque, Merv authorized the clerk to transfer the money from an account I had set up for my young son as my mother had for me, to cover the difference until I could come down to the bank to straighten it out.

As it turned out, my Uncle Jack Young and I, both having terrible handwriting, had very similar signatures. My Uncle Jack had written a counter cheque and forgotten to include his account number. When it got back to the Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union, they mistakenly took the money out of my account instead of my uncle’s.

In today’s world, everyone’s knickers would have been in a knot pointing fingers of blame. But in “those” days, corrections were made, accounts were balanced and everyone had a good chuckle over it.

I miss “those” days when people were good for their word, a handshake sealed a deal and when mistakes were made, people owned up to them and just fixed them.

By 1987 the majority of members of the Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union, like myself, were not farmers and someone decided the name no longer represented the institution. The word “Farmers” was dropped from the institution's name and it became known simply as the “Innisfil Credit Union.”

Somewhere along the line, people had become embarrassed to be associated with farmers. It had even become a derogatory term to refer to someone as being a “farmer”. 

I always felt it was a great dishonour to the farmers of Innisfil Township when this name change took place. I was proud to be in some small way part of an organization that recognized the “Farmers of Innisfil Township”. They were the backbone of our community. The Innisfil Farmers not only formed the Credit Union in Innisfil, they also served many organizations such as the School Boards, Police Departments, Fire Departments and Township Council as if their 24/7 jobs didn’t keep them busy enough.   

The Innisfil Farmers’ Credit Union has undergone many name changes over the years from the “Innisfil Credit Union” to the “People’s Credit Union” to “PACE”. I believe they are now known as “Alterna Savings”. But whatever their moniker, they cannot deny their rich heritage that had meager beginnings of just $40 thanks to the Farmers of Innisfil Township.

Yes, my friends… Those were the days.

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Do you have some pictures or memories of the proverbial “good old days” that you would like to share? If so, please send them by clicking on this link, Those Were The Good Old Days.