Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 128
In the midst of this confusion and uncertainty, I had one bright real estate spot. Earlier in
this chapter I introduced Jean Szabuniewicz, my friend from the A&M swimming pool.
One day in the summer of 1985 he visited me to invite me to participate in a
development he had become involved with in the west Texas town of San Angelo, near
its airport and fronting Lake Nasworthy. With his help, I was able to demonstrate that
the basics were there not for just one project but for two. I accepted the invitation and
proceeded to find lenders and organize the projects. Before my arrival the projects had
been given the names of Lake Nasworthy Estates II and III. These names didn’t conjure
up the marketing image I wanted and they sort of became a nightmare for our
advertising themes.
The investor was the Charles Ducote family who owned the project’s land. I found two
separate S&Ls that had the money and liked my projects. We even built a new sewage
treatment plant for the city of San Angelo to serve the area where our residential
developments were located. In about a year and half I made enough of a profit to justify
my time and efforts and Jean managed to stay in business and save some of the land.
Those funds went directly to reduce my debt. The main residential project in this
development was dedicated to provide housing for personnel assigned to the nearby
U.S. Air Force.
After the San Angelo project, the pace of development that I had grown accustomed to
came to a screeching halt due to the escalation of the S&L and banking debacles.
Except for a few small transactions, it would be 1993 before I had paid all my debt and
could begin to muster new resources to begin again. All told, my assets had suffered a
market value loss between their peak in 1984 and their nadir in 1989 of about eight
million dollars. In practical terms, the loss of momentum was just as bad.
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SMALL TOWN BANKING.
While building the University Park subdivision I became extremely aware of how much
money I was paying my lender for the use of its depositors’ money. I literally measured
my interest ticker at about $100 (1981) per hour whether I was awake or asleep. It was
an experience I wasn’t quite used to yet, but I saw an opportunity in it.
In the fall of 1977, Frank Thurmond approached me to buy a 5 % interest in a new local
bank. I did so and was elected to the board of directors of Citizens Bank of Bryan. There
I was exposed to the travails of bank management and ownership, as well as to their
potential. In view of the large amounts of money I was paying the lender while doing the
University Park project, I began thinking about having my own bank; not only to act as a
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