January 13, 2015 - The Summer 2013 issue of We the People of Shelby County featured the history of Shelby Savings Bank, and while preparing that issue, I got to know Gail Cuculic quite well. Now, with his funeral set for Jan. 14 and with little time to write a formal tribute, I can at least provide two sets of quotes about Gail from that issue. Perhaps his contributions to Center, his warm and gentle personality, and his noble character are at least partially reflected in these quotes.
The first set of quotes is from a major section of that issue, A Concise History of Shelby Savings Bank. (Chapter 4-Chapter 5)
"At the beginning of June 1984, Gail Cuculic joined Shelby County Savings Association as a vice president, coming back home from Houston due to the encouragement of James Campbell and Fred Wulf. Gail had earlier left his position at Sabine Valley and was working in Houston. This return to Center by Gail was rather important to SCSA, since Gail would soon become President the following year… He would serve as Bank President from 1985 to 1992, a time span longer than he expected since he understood his appointment was to be for an interim period…. He retired from the Shelby County Savings Association on Feb 28. 1994….
Gail was a CPA, a businessman, and a man with a good knowledge of banking regulations. Such qualifications were important to the rapidly growing bank, and he served with distinction....
At an open house in honor of Cuculic's retirement in 1994, James Campbell spoke about how important Cuculic's leadership was for over five years. ‘The Bank has been and continues to be fortunate to have someone with Gail's financial, accounting, and management expertise associated with the institution.’"
To read these statements about Gail Cuculic in context, please feel free to visit the magazines’ archives at www.uniqware.com/magazine6/level1htm/ssbhistory.htm
The second set of quotes is provided to give everyone a chance to take a peek at his autobiography, My Achin' Back (by Gail Cuculic as told to Janie Cuculic). I was given an autographed copy by Gail, and it introduced me to a man whose life was full of rich experiences that led to his leadership at Shelby Savings Bank.
"Gail Edward Cuculic was born in 1926. His father had immigrated from Croatia and Czechoslovakia in the early 1900's. His memories of the Depression years were of share cropping and living in cramped quarters with no indoor plumbing or electricity. He began his first paying job at a service station at the age of fourteen and worked there through high school….
Then it was on to Stephen F. Austin in June of 1943, but he enlisted in the Navy in 1944. The Navy life took him to San Diego, Memphis, New Orleans, Ruston, New York, Okinawa, and Korea.
Back in Center after his stint in the Navy, he became a member of the First United Methodist Church and a charter member of the Center Country Club. Gail worked as a CPA for several companies prior to his association with Shelby Savings Bank.”
Terri Lacher reviewed Gail’s book for the Summer 2013 issue of We the People of Shelby County, which you may read in its entirety at www.uniqware.com/magazine6/level2htm/achinBack.htm
