SIDNEY DAVIS TO MATCH STORY BC WONDERFUL, 1997-12-11 (photo)

Sidney Davis, who retires from Mendenhall's Peoples Bank December 12 at the age of of 83, is shown at his home December 10. For Davis, it really has been a wonderful life--and he has a story to match Jimmy Stewart's Christmas classic. He was a bookkeeper on June 4 1933 when nervous investors stampeded banks across the United States to try to withdraw their savings during the Great Depression . Davis grabbed a "closed" notice from the hand of his boss before it could be placed on the front door of his bank the day of the crash and locked it in the lockbox. "This bank is not closing," Davis told his boss. Peoples Bank stayed open and prospered and on Friday will honor Davis, who is finally stepping down because emphysemia has left him too weak to work, with a reception, a tribute to his long career and the role he played in keeping the bank open. WONDERFUL