Kim Light
Hometown: Lebanon, Mo.
Family: Wife, Kathy; son, Brett, financial analyst with Bass Pro; and daughter, Ashton, agriculture financial major at Missouri State University, Springfield, Mo.
In Town: Kim Light has been a Lebanon banker for 36 years. As of this August, he has been the president and senior credit officer at Heritage Bank of the Ozarks for the past five years. His wife, Kathy, is an elementary school physical education teacher.
“The best part of being a banker is helping people,” Kim said. “Banking has changed over the years in that now, as bankers, we get out of the office to meet the customer at their business or on their farm. Years ago, that wasn’t greatly appreciated, back when I first started in banking in the early ‘80s. We, the bankers, were seen more like an adversary, like we were checking up on people. Today, our customers like to show us what they are doing and I certainly enjoy it.”
In the Country: Kim grew up on the farm where he and his family now live and have 55 stock cows in a cow/calf operation.
“We have 255 acres and lease another 160 acres, all in Laclede County,” Kim explained. “We also have 160 acres in hay each year. We have somebody else doing it, round bales on shares so we get 50 percent of it. It works out better for us that way. There is only so much time in the day to get things done.
“My parents, Johnny and Janey Light, raised commercial cows on this same farm and my dad also raised hogs. My dad passed away five years ago but my mother still lives on the family farm.
“My daughter loves the farm and has every intention of taking it over when I decide I’m done. She was the valedictorian of her high school senior class last year and a three-sport athlete, but she would still come home each day to feed the cattle,” Kim said. “It doesn’t matter what we are doing there, vaccinating, castrating, she’s right there, lending a hand.”
He added that the family farm will be eligible for Century Farm Status in 2017.
