N. P. "Van" Van Maren, Jr. was raised in Iowa. He went to one year of junior college but dropped out when he flunked chemistry. He got a job as a night billing clerk for a wholesale fruit house, and was drafted for WWII. He served most of the war in India, provisioning planes to fly over the hump to China. The girl who replaced him at the wholesaler wrote him during the war. They were married in Casper, where Van Maren had moved after the war to work for a similar company. When the fruit store went broke, he got a job with Wyoming Paint and Glass. He told "a pretty interesting story" at the interview a friend got him at Wyoming National Bank and went to work fo the bank. "The reason they wanted me, I was big and husky and the women tellers were complaining about handling 63-pound bags of silver dollars," he said. After 18 years in night school classes, Van Maren became the bank's president. He was President of Hilltop Bank for 12 years, and is now Chairman of the Board. Van Maren and his wife have been married for 62 years. They have seven children, 23 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Jose Gonzalez takes a swing in the batting cage during media day for the Casper Ghosts on Tuesday morning in Casper. The Ghosts changed their name from the Casper Rockies after last season but will continue to be a farm team for the Colorado Rockies. Photo by DAN CEPEDA, Star-Tribune.
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