As a Marine Credit Union (MCU) Real Estate Loan Serving Representative, Lynn Gorzlancyk said she draws from her background in real estate. She explained that she is part of the “funding team” at MCU, working with members on refinancing, purchases, and home equity loans. “We check to make sure everything is signed correctly and then, basically, give them the okay to go ahead and disburse the funds.” In addition, Lynn added, her team does anything needed to do with loans including working with title companies. Lynn’s background includes several years working in real estate, specifically working with titles. To do this multi-faceted work, Lynn said that one needs to be able to use both sides of the brain, the analytical and the creative. Lynn’s artistic nature and her background in art has certainly helped her in her career.
Growing up in Maplewood, MN, Lynn said that she loved to draw and always had a pencil in her hand. “My dad was an untapped individual. He was very intelligent. He entered the Navy when he was only 17 years old, during WWII, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor.” She explained that even though he had four years of college given to him, that he was never able to use it. “He was self-taught and educated. He wrote articles and was almost published in a magazine. He worked construction,” she explained. Lynn also shared that her dad would paint murals, “masterpieces” on their cement block walls. “It was his fresco, like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel,” she said. Lynn’s passion for art, she shared, was gained from her dad.
After high school, Lynn started out at UW River Falls and transferred to UW Steven’s Point where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Arts Management major and Business Administration minor) with the intention of becoming an art teacher. She settled in Central Wisconsin where life and her family came before fulfilling that dream.
She explained that she stayed home with her (now adult) children Matthew, Joanna and Austin until her youngest was eight years old. A friend from college told Lynn she thought she would be great in real estate, so Lynn earned a financial services diploma at Midstate Technical College and chose that path. “Had I stayed in Minnesota…,” Lynn commented. “The Twin Cities has a vibrant art culture.” She said she was confident she could have found work with the fine arts in that art community, but it was harder to find in Central Wisconsin.
“I didn’t let that stop me,” Lynn added and explained that she did and still does volunteer her time within the arts in Wausau and most currently, after relocating to the La Crosse area with her husband Scott, at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona. She said she would love to serve, someday, as a full-time guide/docent at the museum. Lynn said that she intends on working at MCU until she retires, but then, “I will go full force.”
Until then, Lynn shared that she has her five grandchildren to share her passion for art and teaching. She lovingly called them her “little budding artists.” Lynn also enjoys attending art fairs. “I love to talk to the artists. They create and sell their art and are so ready to talk about it. It gives me hope,” she added.
In retirement, she said she wants to create art again, maybe in acrylics. “I love pastels,” she added. “Edgar Degas, the French impressionist … how he used light and shadow and color.”
And this helps with servicing loans? “It’s a good blend,” Lynn said. “You have to be able to think outside the box and look at things from different perspectives. I’ve been able to bring that to my work,” she added. “You have to be able to meet the needs of the member and you need to make sure it’s all in order. It’s two different processes.” Her artistic nature and being able to see members unique situations from different perspectives, she said, helps her to figure out more complicated loans. “Every loan has a story,” she continued. “The more you know of the story, the better you are able to make sure everything is done appropriately.” As far as art and servicing loans? “Somehow,” she added, “it all comes together.”
