To say John Childs grew up amongst a large family would be an understatement. His grandparents had nine children, and seven of them lived in Gray all their life.
“Very unusual,” Childs declared recently, adding that the other two children of D.V. Childs Sr. and Florence Childs were on hand for special occasions and moved back home when they retired.
“We got together at Christmas lunch on Christmas Day every year,” he recalled. “My dad had done it before I was born … I remember the last time we had Christmas lunch up there, we had 125 people.”
Childs, President and CEO of Exchange Bank, has fond memories of Gray — particularly the corner of what is now Monticello Highway and West Clinton Street. That is where the patriarch, D.V. Childs Sr., had what they called the corner store, a general store. His section of the large building contained a grocery store.
“I remember as a little boy going up there on a Saturday, and it was just fascinating to me. They didn’t have grocery carts where you went around shopping,” Childs said. “You had a clerk that waited on you. He brought everything up there and then you were checked out.
“The other thing that was interesting, and they were way, way before their time, was that a lot of times people would call in. A lot of people in Gray, especially maybe widows, didn’t have a car, and they would call in their grocery order. They’d get it up, and they would deliver it to the house.”
Childs, now 75, played four sports in high school, and he said it was a neverending routine.
“We went from summer football practice to the football season. The day we stopped football, we started basketball. The day we stopped basketball, I started baseball and then track. Then we started summer football practice again. So, it was just a sport or practice every day of the year for us. And I loved it.”
Childs could have played football in college.
“I had some offers for football from some smaller schools. But,” he stressed, “I really wanted to go to Georgia.”
Childs decided to walk on as a football player for the Dogs, and he shared the details of that career.
“I went the first day they had practice, and the walk-ons were there. I saw some of those guys. Even back then the linemen were maybe 260, but not 350, like they are now. But,” he acknowledged, “I was just 160, so, I mean, they just looked like giants to me. I said, ‘I don’t think this is what I want to do.’ So I didn’t even sign up. I left.”
While he wasn’t successful with his football career at UGA, Childs did score romantically there. He met his future wife, Joan Dismer, ironically, at a football game.
“A group of my friends, fraternity brothers, were going to the Georgia-South Carolina football game up in Columbia,” Childs recalled. “We got up there and we ran into a group of girls. We knew some of them.So we kind of got together with them and I met my future bride, Joan, there. So we went to the football game, we sat together with them, and that started a relationship and eventually a marriage.”
The couple married in 1973 and have five children and 13 grandchildren.
Beginning of banking career
Childs said that while he was in school he pondered his future. His father, John Sr., owned a grocery store, worked long hours, and seldom took a vacation. John Jr. was contemplating returning home and taking over the store. “But, the closer I got to graduation, I kind of remembered how many hours he put in there … And so one weekend shortly before I graduated, I said, ‘Daddy I don’t think this is what I want to do.’” His father agreed with him, and Childs didn’t return to Gray at that time. He talked to a banker who was a friend of his dad, then interviewed with several banks. “I was hired at Brand Banking Company in Lawrenceville as a trainee. It was a very small bank, so I got to do a whole lot of different things there.”
The Gray native stayed at Brand Banking close to 25 years, then another area bank until 1999, when he was contacted by the Bank of Gray.
“They had called me up, and they were growing and needed a commercial and construction loan officer. I kind of jumped at the chance to move back down here.”
The Bank of Gray was sold to Security Bank and Trust in 2003, but that bank failed in 2009, and its assets were bought by State Bank and Trust. Childs stayed at that location until 2014, when he went to work at Exchange Bank in Milledgeville.
“Henry Pope, who was a president at that time, was looking for a senior lender. And so he contacted me and I was able to come over here as senior lender.”
Childs was 64 at that time, and he was still Senior Lender five years later when Pope died in the hospital following heart surgery. The chairman of the board of directors offered him the position of President/CEO and asked how long he would commit to the bank.
“I said, ‘I’ll commit five years to stay,’” Childs recalled. “Then I said, ‘As long as you want me.’”
System upgrade; Expansion
Nearly seven years later, Childs is still there, and he reports a major project is nearing completion.
“We’re going through a conversion right now on our core processing conversion, which everything is tied to it. All our deposit accounts and loan accounts and everything is tied to it. The actual conversion takes place July 18-20, over a weekend. We’ve been working on that for a long time, the past eight months.”
Childs also pointed out that Exchange Bank is expanding. In May, a fourth branch bank opened in Braselton, about two hours away, northwest of Athens.
A conversation put that move in motion.
“I have a customer who lives up there and was a customer when I was in Gwinnett County,” Childs shared. “I mentioned to him we were looking to expand, and he responded, ’Why don’t you come look at Braselton?’
“And I just didn’t think Braselton would do it,” Childs admitted. “It was just a small crossroads when I was there, something very much like Haddock. I said, ‘Why would we want to expand to Braselton?’ He said, ‘Come up here and let me drive you around.’” Childs did that. “I was just amazed at the growth up there. Jackson County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state and one of the fastest growing in the nation. It’s just exploding, commercial, residential, everything.”
The banking company ended up buying a 14,000-square-foot building that once housed another bank, one that failed in 2012. Work began immediately following the December closing.
“We had our grand opening ribbon-cutting June 2nd,” Childs shared. “June 1 was our 123rd anniversary of Exchange Bank, but they said people won’t come on Monday. So we moved the ribbon-cutting to Tuesday, and we must have had 125 people there … The acceptance has been unbelievable.”
Business, personal plans both uncertain
Childs said there are no definite expansion plans to share at the moment.
However, “We think that probably the best area of expansion will be from that market up there. Not ruling out anything here at all, but we think probably the most success will be coming from branching out there.”
On a personal note, the executive also has nothing definite to share concerning possible retirement.
“I have committed to staying a while longer — to what point I don’t know. But, I’ve really enjoyed the last two or three years more than I have probably any point in my banking career.”
Childs said that no matter how long he stays on, the success of the bank is due to the efforts of others.
“This is true for any business, but especially a community bank. What makes us successful, in my opinion, is not me; it’s the people we have working here. We have some great folks.”
The 53-year executive explained his banking philosophy.
“Anybody that walks in the door has a need. If they come in to open a checking account, they’re not there to open a checking account.
They want a way to pay the bills.
If it’s a loan, they’re not interested in monthly payments. They want the car or they want the house. So,” he declared, “it’s to fill a need, and that’s what I get a kick out of, helping fulfill people’s needs.”
Away from the office, among other activities, Childs is a charter member of the Jones County Rotary Club, active member of Gray Methodist Church, past Chairman of the Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce, and a member of Gideons International.
“Most people think of Gideons as placing Bibles in hotel rooms,” Childs suggested. “And that started around 1908. But now, the Gideons distributed last year 80 million Bibles around the world, and the majority of those were distributed in schools and universities.”
Childs pointed out Gideon members can become qualified to speak at different churches to share what the organization does.
“I decided to do that,” he said, “and it’s one of the most rewarding things that I’ve done. I was just up at Sunshine Church in Round Oak and spoke up there. It was just really rewarding.”
