Retired Park City Credit Union President William Johnston, who passed away earlier this year, has been memorialized with the Bill Johnston Community Room at the credit union’s Merrill office.
“We feel we should recognize Bill for his dedication to Park City Credit Union,” said Jim Gaeu, chairman of the credit union’s board of directors. “Because of all his efforts we’ve grown tremendously.”
“He was a very dedicated individual, both to the credit union and to the community,” Gaeu added.
Bill’s son, Chris Johnston, said his dad was a humble man whose priorities in life were his faith, his family and Park City Credit Union.
“I wish the members (of Park City Credit Union) could understand how important each and every one was to him,” Chris said. “He tried to give back every chance that he could.”
“What this does is lets everybody know how much my dad valued park City Credit Union and its membership,” Chris said. “He would be just humbled, appreciative but humbled.”
“He felt blessed that he was in a position that people in the Merrill community trusted him enough to do business with him,” Chris said.
The community room is available for all Park City Credit Union members to use. It was renamed in Johnston’s honor in recognition of his passion for the credit union and the Merrill community, said Val Mindak, current president and CEO of Park City Credit Union. Along with the dedication of the community room, Park City Credit Union also instilled some of Merrill’s heritage into the office with historic photos from the community’s past.
Johnston, 67, died March 1, 2012, after a short illness.
Bill was born in Tomahawk, and graduated from Merrill High School where he excelled in football, basketball, and baseball. In 1964, he married Laurie Babl of Schofield.
Bill worked his way through college, eventually graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned a BBA degree in Banking, Finance, Administration, and Personnel. His business career began at Heart O’ Lakes Savings and Loan in Rhinelander. He then worked at Lakeland Savings and Loan, Minocqua; Community Savings and Loan, Fond du Lac; and then returned to his hometown of Merrill as President and CEO of Park City Credit Union in 1985. Park City Credit Union grew during his leadership with offices in Merrill, Tomahawk, Minocqua, and Rhinelander. He appreciated the members of Park City Credit Union and always had an open-door policy. He welcomed the members to stop in and just say hello. He retired from Park City in 2009 after 24 years of service. He was proud and honored to serve the membership. He made numerous lifelong friends in the credit union industry and the community. He believed in giving back to his community and keeping business local.