After 44 years working at banks and being recognized with multiple awards, a respected community figure is looking forward to his retirement.

Bill Bradshaw, who worked as president of People’s Bank until retiring this year, says he is most excited about the ability to travel and spend time with his family.

Bradshaw, 67, also said he is proud of his work with several banks across Texas.

“I’ve helped a lot of different guys and I don’t think I’m any more proud of any one accomplishment than another,” Bradshaw said. “To me, they’re all equal.”

Originally, Bradshaw did not get his start in banking. He graduated from the University of Texas-Arlington with a bachelor of science degree in 1977.

His first job out of college was with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department in 1978 before getting his first banking job later the same year at National Bank in Fort Worth. When Bradshaw started at National Bank, he said he worked in the bonds division.

Bradshaw eventually returned to his hometown, McKinney, to work at Collin County National Bank. While in McKinney, he married for the first time and began raising his two daughters, Briana and Brooke.

He worked as a loan officer at Collin County National Bank and also survived two ownership changes when the bank became Teams Bank and Bank One. Bradshaw would continue moving up, becoming the bank manager of Bank One in Duncanville in 1994.

Bradshaw stayed in Duncanville for 11 years, but also became a single father following his wife’s death.

Another move back to McKinney in 2005, this time to American National Bank of Texas, connected him with his wife, Donna Bradshaw. The two have been married for 16 years.

His final career move was to Citizens State Bank in Princeton, now called People’s Bank, in 2008, where he became a community staple. Bradshaw served as the bank’s president and chief executive officer and survived its ownership changes.

Bradshaw has also been recognized several times in his career. He said out of the 13 years he was in Princeton, he won banker of the year in 10 of them. He has also served in his local Kiwanis Club in McKinney and with the Lions Club in Princeton.

Now that his 40-plus years of banking are in the rearview mirror, Bradshaw says he is looking forward to crossing off some travel destinations. Off the top of his head, he named Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Cancun, Mexico as places he is looking forward to visiting with his wife and family.

“We’re going to travel a lot,” Bradshaw said. “I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun.”

When asked if he would do it all over again, Bradshaw did not hesitate in saying he would repeat everything exactly as it happened with the same cast of people in his life. He added the relationships are the most important thing he has cultivated both in his career and family life.

“It’s always about the way you treat them,” Bradshaw said.