2.
Gettysburg has depended upon tourist attractions, the college, and tourist traps for its economic vitality. Main streets lined with schlock shops peddling pseudo–Civil War memorabilia alongside tchatzkah shops that sell the real stuff and keep it under lock and key prosper handsomely from Gettysburg’s place in American history. Aside from a Starbucks, chain retailers and fast-food brands well known to tourists are conspicuously absent. Casual fashion stores and dining places, and pubs with neon liquor ads line the streets alongside historic landmarks and markers. Lincoln Square merchants cater less to the tourist trade than the souvenir stores and ghost tour operators Jay always saw as he drove down Highway 15.
Main Street Gettysburg managed renovations, events, and tours of downtown. Their board included owners of the longer-standing businesses, including Central Penn Bank, First Colonial’s prime competition, run by Stan Reynolds Stan’s seat as chairman of the Main Street board had always been a feather in his marketing cap. His picture was regularly taken alongside politicians and other visiting dignitaries. A long-time Republican, Stan was especially proud to appear on the reviewing stand with Donald Trump seven years before. Although Trump lost his first bid for re-election, Stan raised enough money to get a post-campaign invitation to a “Patriots Party of Hundreds” that the deposed former president hosted at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida home. He’d become so bored with traditional banking, he hired an executive vice president to manage Central Penn’s day to day affairs, hoping that steady growth might make it a legitimate acquisition play for a larger bank and a well-compensated exit to devote more time to politics, after President Trump reclaimed the office.
Jay fidgeted to find a comfortable spot in his high-back seat as Stan worked the Central Penn board room for the monthly Main Street meeting. Six-four, still muscular, with a slight paunch from easier living, Stan put a Bill Clinton-esq handshake on each board member shortly after he entered the room. He looked each person in the eye, gently grasping each member’s left elbow with his left hand, shaking hands firmly with his right as if he wanted to share a secret. The men seemed comfortable with Stan’s style, the women less so, though none had pained expressions on their faces. Stan did not approach the guests, including Jay, before taking his seat of leadership, a better-padded, higher-backed chair.
Not the most creative businessman, though an often-shrewd local politician, Stan Reynolds feared that his family’s legacy might become consigned to history if First Colonial’s marketing became more aggressive. He made it his personal mission to find and share bad news about his newest competitor, hoping to regain goodwill he’d lost. Gettysburg-born, a former high school football and lacrosse hero who played D-2 scholarship ball at nearby Shippensburg University, he was an attorney as well as the bank’s chief executive. Stan knew the law well enough to run a bank but understood it better to sway local politicians and like-minded businesspeople to vote his way. Sometimes he won, other times he didn’t.
Stan’s physique and glad handling reminded Jay of the “lax bros,” the burly lacrosse players he thoroughly disliked in high school and college. The bros used their size and stature to bully less athletically inclined male classmates they disliked and make over-strong impressions on the women they liked. No less athletic, Jay never felt physically or psychologically threatened by the bros, only annoyed when they pushed around more studious friends or overtly flirted with the women who resisted their aggressive overtures. He stepped in whenever a lax bro got out of line and walked away unscathed; his athletic stature on campus was no less respected. Viewing the Civil War battle paintings that covered windowless walls in Stan’s boardroom, Jay found the look worn and dated. But, as Jay settled into his chair, his eyes diverted from the chairman, his attention captured by Emily Grossman, Main Street’s executive director, seated to Stan’s right. An architect and city planner, she reviewed every proposal for renovations downtown. Emily had the authority to recommend but not approve. The board, led by Stan, took that role.
Jay watched closely with interest as Emily presented each proposal, then invited the building owner or businessperson to say a few words. Each presenter could be a source for new business. But Jay became more interested in Emily as each presenter gave their three-minute spiel. A pert blonde dressed in a thin fall sweater and knee-length print skirt, she looked to be only a year or three out of college, much like Jay. A small chai, the Jewish symbol for life, hung on a thin gold necklace around her neck, though Jay noticed no jewelry on her fingers. Jay took notes about each business and listened as the board approved each plan with a hand and voice vote. Either he or a loan officer would soon pay them a visit.
The meeting ended with a discussion of upcoming events and requests for volunteers. Stan looked in Jay’s direction, but Jay just looked at his notes as the meeting adjourned. Stan left with a few board members, again not bothering to shake hands with the guests. Jay walked over to Emily after the meeting as she packed her presentation materials.
“I know who you are. Elana told me about you,” Emily said, not looking at him while she continued packing. “I’ve got an account at your bank. It’s not much, but a girl’s got to save something.”
Jay grinned and nodded. “Glad to have your business.”
“Oh, it wasn’t because of you or Elana. Brought that account with me from college and grad school.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Penn State for architecture, Penn for city planning.”
“What brought you to Gettysburg?”
“I have a weakness for historic places. There’s so many challenges. It’s not like downtown Gettysburg had coffee shops and pizza parlors during the Civil War.”
Jay laughed. “They’re about the only places I recognized besides the Lincoln Diner and the movie theater.”
“So, you went to Gettysburg?”
“Yep, recruited to play basketball. Good times.”
“Shame on you for not spending more time in town.” Emily nudged Jay’s elbow lightly to show she was kidding. “There’s lots of interesting landmarks and shops. I’ll give you a tour sometime. Good for you to get out of that stuffy bank once in a while.”
“Stuffy? Compared to this place our branch is a posh palace.”
Emily laughed. “Not to an architect. Oh, I played ball, too. High school, but I was pretty good. Could’ve gotten a scholarship, but I really wanted to be an architect. None of the schools that recruited me offered an architecture degree. I didn’t want to major in something else and wait for grad school.”
“You said you have a masters.”
“Took an elective in historic preservation my senior year, I fell in love with the idea of revitalizing a city through restoration instead of new construction.”
“Maybe we can play one-on-one one day.”
Emily closed her folio and folded her aisle. “There’s good reason I was recruited D-2 and you played D-3. Don’t want to make you look bad.”