P1FCU now operating: Hometown Colfax grad heads new credit union in old bank building

Potlatch First Federal Credit Union opened its new branch in Colfax last week with a hometown manager at the helm. Anne Ellithorpe McRae, who has been in the banking business for the last six years, has been named to head the new branch.

The daughter of the late Gene (Bud) and Carolyn Ellithorpe, McRae has resided in Colfax for the past two years and has been commuting to Spokane where she was employed at Bank of America and later at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union.

When she learned Potlatch First Federal Credit Union was opening a branch in Colfax and seeking local job applicants, she decided to apply and landed the manager’s position.

“I cut my daily commute from more than two hours a day down to two minutes,” she noted.

A member of the Colfax class of 1985, she moved back to the family residence in Colfax when her mother became ill, and she decided to remain in town after her mother died and commute to Spokane.

McRae has pursued a career in business for the past 24 years with most of that time in retail marketing.

The new Potlatch First Federal Credit Union opened Jan. 7 and has been “going strong” from the start. Colfax is the 14th branch in the Potlatch system.

Potlatch purchased the former Chase Bank building in the 600 block of South Main. Chase closed out its Colfax branch three years ago.

The bank site for years was the location for Lincoln Mutual Savings and later was Washington Mutual. Chase began operations there in 2008.

Potlatch has done extensive remodeling of the structure including paint, flooring, new windows and interior alterations. It has also installed a new ITM machine. McRae points out the “I “ in ITM stands for Interactive because it offers more features, including the capacity to take calls, than a standard ATM.

McRae said the bank will have four people on staff. Mentors are presently coming from Lewiston for training.

The bank also participates in a Co-op Shared Banking service in which members of other credit unions can do transactions at the Colfax site.

Potlatch will operate Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The drive-in service will open at 8:30 a.m. On Fridays closing time will be extended to 6 p.m.

Saturdays the drive-in will be in service from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

So where are the the other Ellithorpe kids from Colfax? David has served on the Seattle Police Department for 24 years, and Steve is a Providence Medical Service representative based in Kent. Mary works in food service in Spokane.