Chris James

After high school I thought the world was my oyster...then I realized I didn't like shellfish! I spent 2 years in West Virginia as a missionary where I gained an appreciation for community service and decided I wanted to work with people. After returning home I enrolled at CSI and got an associates degree in Communications. I was also on the debate team and worked as a free lance reporter for the now defunct S.I.P. By this time CSI had a center in Burley and I found it ironic that I was attending college in the same building where I went to high school. During this time I got a "temporary" job at D.L. Evans Bank as a courier. I didn't plan on being a banker, I didn't even plan on living in Burley, but a friend told me "Burley needs good people too." I have kind of accepted that as my mantra. The Bank saw I was pretty good with computers and quickly moved me to book-keeping. I held several other positions before being accepted into a management internship. I have been making business and farm loans for the last few years and boy what an interesting time to be in banking! I just recently finished a bachelor's degree from ISU in Corporate Training. The best things that happened to me since high school were marrying my wife and having kids. My wife Danielle is from Utah and we met for the first time at Lagoon. She was moving to Idaho to go to school and we kept in touch after she moved up here. I have been in several of the productions out in Oakley and at the time we were dating I was in Guys and Dolls. Before one of the shows, I called her up on stage and proposed. She of course couldn't resist my charm and said yes. However when she was walking back to her seat she was wiping off my stage lipstick! I never thought that when I proposed to my wife I would be wearing more makeup than she was. We have 2 boys: a 3-year old named Michael Anthony and our little outlaw a 10-month old named Jesse James. We still live in Burley and I still enjoy being involved in the community. I am president-elect of the Kiwanis Club, Chairman of the Heyburn Amphitheater Committee, and work with the Chamber of Commerce, Red Cross, Boy Scouts, and American Cancer Society. For our most recent escapades check out my wife's blog at http://stickyfacesandfunplaces.blogspot.com/