For the past 56 years, Seneca Savings has done business under one name or another at 105 Second St., here in the village.
If present plans fully materialize, however, the Liverpool location will be nothing but a fond memory come summertime. The bank long known as Seneca Federal will relocate 3.5 miles away at 7799 Oswego Road, in Clay.
Last year, the bank conducted a feasibility study which showed that a majority of its customers lived north of the village.
“This move means we’ll be closer to many of the customers we serve,” said Seneca Savings CEO Joseph Vitale. The new location will offer “better drive-through banking and ATM offerings, better parking and easier access,” he promised.
Seneca Savings began as the Baldwinsville Savings and Loan Association in March 1928. The company changed its name to Seneca Federal Association in 1958, and the following year, it opened its Liverpool branch.
Sometime later, the bank became known as Seneca Federal Savings and Loan Association. Last year the name changed again when it was simplified to Seneca Savings.
Despite the relocation plan, Vitale hopes village customers will follow them out to the new site.
“Please don’t confuse our modernization with cold and detached,” Vitale pleaded in a recent letter sent to Liverpool depositors. “We’re steadfast in remaining your community bank with a small-town feel. We pride ourselves on being connected to our community.”
Sad passings
The village of Liverpool lost two fine fellas last week: former Fire Chief Tim MacCollum died March 23 and prominent businessman Tommy Juliano died March 28.
Both of their cancer-related deaths were untimely. Mac was 62 and Tommy just 38.
When I was a kid, my younger brother Jim and I often played baseball and ice hockey with Tim MacCollum and his younger brother, Jimmy. A big man and a natural athlete, Tim routinely launched home runs from the batter’s box and slapped shots past goalies from the blue line.
Tim MacCollum
The last time I saw Tim, about five years ago, he was responding to a fire at the Village Mall at the corner of First and Vine. His big smile still lit up his face as it did when we were younger but by then he sported a bushy grey ’stache along his upper lip.
His friend, Robert Warguleski, remembers Mac as a great sportsman, especially in hockey.
“As good as he was on skates,” Bob said, “he never took advantage of the less-athletic individuals while playing in the adult leagues in which he was involved.”
While most will remember Tim’s decades of dedication to the Liverpool and Mattydale fire departments, I’ll always remember him gliding down the ice at the Lagoon, controlling the puck, decking defenders and crashing the goal.
By the way, Jimmy MacCollum – another gifted skater and ballplayer who became a well-known tavern-keeper in Brockport – also died young. He succumbed suddenly in July 2005, while in South Carolina. He was just 46.
Tommy Juliano
A dozen years ago, one of Liverpool’s most recognizable young businessmen, Tommy Juliano, beat a battle with myelofibrosis, but last fall the bone marrow disorder recurred. His entire family – wife Debbie, and children, Mia, Tommy Jr., Ethan and Antonio – spent several months on the West Coast where he was treated by specialists at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
A few weeks ago, Tommy and his family returned to CNY, and he died in Debbie’s arms last Saturday at Upstate University Hospital.
If you ever met Tommy, you’d never forget him. His big, beefy body was topped by a shiny bald head. His face featured a well-cropped Fu Manchu goatee. Physically, he was one of the most distinctive-looking businessmen in the village.
A 1995 graduate of Liverpool High School, Tommy was the owner and operator of Val’s Paving, and V&V Realty. He was the grandson of longtime Liverpool landlord Val Lamont, who owns Liverpool Properties, LLC.
The columnist can be contacted at [email protected].
