Klickitat County WA Archives Biographies.....Read, George A. January 27, 1884 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com June 30, 2006, 1:17 am

Author: Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Volume II, 
Pages 202-203

        GEORGE A. READ, president of the Columbia State Bank, at White Salmon, 
Klickitat county, Washington, is recognized as a man of marked business and 
executive ability, as is evidenced by the splendid growth of this institution 
under his management, is being generally regarded as one of the best small-
town banks in the state of Washington.  Mr. Read was born in Woodbury county, 
Iowa, on the 27th of January, 1884, and is a son of William and Delilah 
(Vinnedge) Read, the former born on Long Island, New York, and the latter in 
Indiana, both now being deceased.  His father was a farmer and spent his early 
married life in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa, where he was engaged in 
agricultural pursuits until 1885, when he moved to Sheridan county, Nebraska, 
and took up a homestead, being a pioneer of his section of the state.  To him 
and his wife were born six children:  Mrs. Sadie Fogel, who lives in Nebraska; 
Mrs. Hallie Metcalf, of Marysville, Washington; W. H., of Marysville; Mrs. 
Elizabeth Barbour, of Olathe, Kansas; W. B, who lives in Nebraska; and George 
A.  The father was a veteran of the Civil war, having served three years as a 
member of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Indiana Volunteer 
Infantry.
 	George A. Read attended the public schools and took a commercial 
course in the Grand Island Business College, at Grand Island, Nebraska.  He 
went to work for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Alliance, 
Nebraska, being employed in a clerical capacity, and was later transferred to 
Sterling, Colorado, where he remained with that company until 1909, when he 
became a bookkeeper in a bank at Sterling.  Two years later he came to White 
Salmon, Washington, as cashier in the Gillett State Bank, with which 
institution he remained until 1916, when it was consolidated with the First 
National Bank, under the name of the Columbia State Bank.  On the organization 
of the latter bank Mr. Read was made president, which position he has held to 
the present time.  Gillett Brothers & Company was established as a private 
bank in 1906, and in 1911 became a state bank, with T. Z. Gillett as its first 
president.  The White Salmon Valley Bank was founded in 1906 and in 1911 was 
nationalized, with A. C. Keefhaver as its first president.  Mr. Keefhaver is 
now vice president of the Columbia State Bank and is president of the Pioneer 
State Bank of Goldendale, Washington.  The Columbia State Bank was organized 
with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars and at the end of the first 
year its deposits amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, while at 
the close of the last fiscal year the deposits were four hundred thousand 
dollars, with surplus and undivided profits of sixteen thousand dollars.  The 
present officers of the bank are:  George A. Read, president; A. C. Keefhaver, 
vice-president; H. L. Claterbos, cashier; Guy F. Wade, assistant cashier; 
directors, George A. Read, A. C. Keefhaver, H. L. Claterbos and Ira E. Hyde.  
Mr. Read is known as a careful and conservative banker, safeguarding the 
interests of the depositors, and at that same time being of material 
assistance in promoting the commercial prosperity of the community.
	In 1908, in Sterling, Colorado, Mr. Read was united in marriage to 
Miss Greta Gillett, who was born in Iowa, and is a daughter of T. Z. and Mary 
Gillett, both of whom are deceased.  Her father was long engaged in the 
banking business in Iowa, Colorado and Washington and was a man of prominence 
and influence in business circles.  Mrs. Read received a good education in the 
public schools of Iowa, and a business college at Des Moines and prior to her 
marriage was employed in her father’s bank in Sterling.  Mr. and Mrs. Read 
have two children, Gryce, who was born in Sterling and is now a sophomore in 
the Oregon Agricultural College at Corvallis, and Dale, who was born at White 
Salmon and is attending the Grant high school in Portland, Oregon.  Mr. Read 
is a member of White Salmon Lodge, No. 163, A. F. & A. M., of which he was 
master in 1918.  He has taken a deep interest in local public affairs, serving 
a number of years as a member of the city council and is now rendering 
effective service as mayor.  He possesses a kindly and affable manner and 
wherever known commands uniform respect and esteem.


Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Volume II, 
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1928



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