Chuck Rentschler is ready for the next phase of his life. He held a retirement celebration 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Show-Me Credit Union. Rentschler was the president of the credit union and had served there for 34 years.

“I’ve been here for 34-and-a-half years and 20 days,” he said. “I was going calculate how many minutes that might be, but the calculator might blow up and I have the oldest one in the building, so I thought I better not mess with that.”

One customer there to thank Rentschler for his years of service was Kathy Crawford. She was one of the customers who was able to get an auto loan through Show-Me when other banking institutions would not, she said.

“I am rather grateful and I have not left [the credit union] since. I’m a testament to his giving when other people would not,” she said.

Rentshcler is a bit of gear head and has a goal to see the checkered flag at 35 sprint car races this year. He fell in love with sprint car racing at six years old.

“I love racing. So that’s one of my goals to see a lot of races this year. NASCAR is OK, but sprint car racing is what it is all about. That’s where a lot of [NASCAR drivers] start out,” Rentschler said.

Rentschler’s playful sense of humor shines through when talking about the roles he’s had with the credit union.

“Well I take out the trash. I’ve cleaned the bathrooms before. I scooped the snow. Whatever had to be done, I did,” he said.

He described his management style as collaborative, noting employees were their own bosses in many ways.

While Rentschler is retiring from the credit union, he doesn’t plan to give up working entirely. He will be a driver for Missouri Military Academy to take cadets to and from events. He has some other plans but did not reveal them yet.

“It’s been a great career here,” he said. “I’ve worked with a lot of great people and been really fortunate to have a lot of good volunteers.”

Rentschler was referencing the seven-member board of directors, who are volunteers, and help oversee the credit union.

The best part of working for the credit union was helping its customers, he said.

“There are people that come through our doors needing financial guidance. We put them on a path to get them back on track so they can be financially secure. That’s a big reward to me.”

Some customers could hardly qualify for an auto loan when they first joined the credit union. Those customers now have paid off home loans, he said.

“It just makes you feel good that you have helped people become successful,” Rentschler said. “I can’t say all financial institutions have that thought. When you’re a credit union, you’re a co-op, so you’re member owned and everybody works together and it all comes out well in the end.”