The Bank of America branch in Mathews closed for good on Wednesday, July 31, and Valerie Beverley of Cardinal said goodbye to the only job she’s ever had.

Beverley started working at the then-Farmers Bank of Mathews on April 1, 1975, when Lou Anne Diggs left her job in the proof department to have a baby. A 20-year-old 1974 graduate of Rappahannock Community College, Beverley was looking for a job.

Her father, who worked on an oil truck with a relative of the bank president, casually mentioned to the gentleman that his daughter needed a job, and the next thing she knew, Beverley had an interview with Lester Smith, the bank’s president. He hired her on the spot to work in the proof department, asking only her name, address, and Social Security number.

Beverley stayed at the bank for the next 44 years, through four changes of ownership and many changes in the banking process, most notably the move into the electronic age of banking. When she first began at the bank, in the...