In 1950, upon taking the responsibility of running a Credit Union out of their own home, Ann and Lawrence Weber had no idea that it would still be running 75 years later, with three branches to boot!
In the beginning, Traverse Catholic Federal Credit Union was known as Parts Manufacturing Credit Union. The first name change came just five years later in 1955 when Parts Manufacturing became Mills Manufacturing and the credit union changed its name to match.
A year later in 1956, Mills closed, but the members still wanted to keep it alive. Lawrence and Ann were up to the task, and approached St. Francis Catholic Church about becoming a Catholic Credit Union. Parishioners of the church had been asking to form a credit union and just like that, it was a match made in heaven! On April 7, 1957 the credit union officially became known as East Traverse Catholic Federal Credit Union (ETCFCU).
Over the next seven years, membership grew, and in 1964 ETCFCU moved to a new location: an office building on Cass Street in Traverse city. The year 1965 ushered in a new milestone for ETCFCU when assets reached $1 million. ETCFCU was growing but the Webers kept the philosophy of making the members the first priority. In their own words “Determination and hard work are the key to success in any credit union…each member must be treated as an individual, not an account number.”
The 70’s brought continued growth, membership grew to 3,800 and assets totaled over $5 million. But with the growth and the end of the decade, also came a bittersweet change when Lawrence Weber chose to retire and handed the title over Leonard Classens.
The 80’s and 90’s brought a move to the current Veteran’s Drive location alongside ETCFCU’s 40th anniversary. In 1994, a merger took place with Leelanau Catholic Credit Union. With a jump in technological advances, came a new arrangement, “shared branching”. Shared Branching opened up ease of access for credit unions that utilized the same software to service each other’s members. The same software that brought shared branching also made a new landmark possible for the credit union that was the first of its kind in the area, a shared office with TBA that was open from 1998 until 2009. ETCFCU strongly entered the 21st century.
2010 brought the 60th anniversary and a new decade for ETCFCU. In 2014, CEO Leonard Classens retired and handed the reigns over to Gregory Gurka. New leadership wasn’t the only big change in the decade, in 2015 after careful consideration ETCFCU went through a name change to Traverse Catholic Federal Credit Union (TCFCU) and opened its charter to allow for more abilities to qualify for membership.
In 2017, leadership changed hands to prior board member Patrick Brady who served as CEO through October of 2020. Mr. Brady’s time as CEO brought the Interlochen branch, which opened in 2019. Since October 2020, longtime employee Patty McManus has served as CEO and continues to lead the Credit Union to serve the community with members and tradition at the heart, with the future in mind.
To Qualify for membership one of the following must apply:
- Live, work, worship or attend school in Antrim, Benzie, Charlevoix, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, or Leelanau County
- Have a spouse who died while in field of membership of TCFCU
- Be an Employee of TCFCU
- Volunteer in the community
- Have an immediate family member who is a member of TCFCU