Maye and Faye's Building and Loan: How Twin Sisters Made a Fortune Running the Cleanest, Kindest Savings and Loan in America

Those who don't believe that the history of a banking institution can be folksy and charming will have to read the story of the Point Pleasant Savings and Loan and the twin sisters who made it one of the strongest in West Virginia, at a time when S&Ls around the country were collapsing. Smith joined the firm in 1952; she was named president in 1975. Hudson went to work there in 1960 and was made vice-president and secretary in 1983. Aided by Whitaker (coauthor of The Beardstown Ladies' Common Sense Investment Guide), they tell the tale of a bank where almost every customer was a friend; where ultraconservative investments were the rule, even during the razzle-dazzle '80s; and where the building was spotless because, if a janitor was absent, one of the twins scrubbed the bathrooms. They sold out in 1995, making many of their investors big profits through their bank stock. Maye and Faye, depicted in photos taken throughout their lives, are as hard to tell apart at 73 as they were in infancy. Women who despair of breaking the glass ceiling will find this account particularly heartening. (Feb.)