HERE FOR GOOD \ VISION CREDIT UNION 75 YEARS
The Rosehaven years.
The staff at Rosehaven didn’t start with
the idea of creating a credit union. It
was the late 1940s, and the standard of
living in rural Alberta was modest. Life
was improving – but slowly – and
people were used to finding resourceful
solutions to challenging problems.
“It was just what they did to help each
other get by,” says Maureen Grove, a
retired manager of Corporate Services
at Vision. Her mother, Marjorie Grove,
was an aid at Rosehaven and one of the
early members of the credit union. “One
of the ladies there wanted to go on a
holiday. They all pooled their money
together so she could take some money
for this trip. Then they just kept it up –
whenever you had extra money, you put
it in the pot. That’s how it all started.”
It’s no surprise that folks at Rosehaven
looked to each other for support. In
those days, access to credit in rural
areas was limited. Chartered banks
typically wanted big down payments and
ultra low-risk loans. And they saw rural
borrowers as a bigger risk.
For the Rosehaven staff, risk wasn’t an
issue. “I asked Mom, ‘What if someone
didn’t pay?’ She said they always did…
they kept adding to the pot and more
people joined in,” says Grove.
After a few years of adding to the pot
(a shoebox, actually), the Rosehaven
staff made their financial collaboration
official. The Camrose Savings and
Credit Union received its official Alberta
Government charter on April 14, 1950.
For the first ten years, credit union
membership was limited to Rosehaven.
By 1957, it had grown to 50 members
and about $6,000 in assets. That same
year, a Rosehaven attendant named
Gerrit Oldekamp was appointed
Secretary Treasurer, a position he held
after the credit union opened up to
Camrose and District residents in 1961.
1960s growth:
Right time. Right model.
It didn’t take long before word got out
about the credit union in the Brunsdale
Building in downtown Camrose. By
1964, they had nearly 500 members,
and Oldekamp, who had been dividing
his time between his job at Rosehaven
and the credit union, became the first
full-time manager of Camrose Savings
and Credit Union. It was the start of
several years of rapid growth.
At the 1967 annual meeting,
Oldekamp reported that the credit
union’s total assets had increased by 59
percent, membership had grown to
1,122 and deposits had skyrocketed
945 percent from $24,000 to $230,000.
The timing was right. Across Alberta,
the 1960s ushered in a period of
optimism and change. The province was
enjoying a booming oil and gas sector,
while rural communities were
modernizing farms, expanding
businesses and building better lives.
Credit unions fit perfectly into this
moment. They offered fair, accessible
financial services rooted in trust and
community at a time when traditional
banks were skeptical about rural
borrowers. In Camrose, where people
were used to looking out for each other,
the co-operative model just made sense.
It wasn’t just about banking – it was
about building something together.
1970s: Branching out.
The 1970s brought a new level of
maturity to Alberta’s credit union
movement. They had acquired the legal
right to offer most financial services
available at chartered banks. As the
province’s economy surged with record
growth, credit unions evolved from
grassroots operations into more
sophisticated financial institutions.
1 Employees at the Rosehaven
institute, in this building, started
the credit union in 1950.
2 The new Camrose Savings and
Credit Union in 1969.
3 A Credit Union Federation
meeting in the 1960s as credit
union movement is growing.
4 Gerrit Oldekamp, General
Manager illustrates the growing
number of Camrose Savings and
Credit Union members in 1967.
1969
/ Built and opened new credit union
building on 51st Street in Camrose.
1972
/ Doubled building space. 18 staff
members, 4,412 members and
assets of $7.3 million.
1976
/ Opened a branch in Stettler and head
office in the Central Agencies building
in Camrose. Memberships: 7,819 and
assets: $31.6 million.
1976
/ Opened a branch in Duggan Mall
in Camrose. Plans put in place to
amalgamate with Flagstaff Credit
Union and to open a new branch
an Coronation.