Kathy Alvesteffer stands next to her celebratory cake at 5th/3rd Bank where she has worked for the past 40 years.

Kathy Alvesteffer has bucked the trend.

The Whitehall resident has worked in the same occupation for 40 years, and she has done it in the same location.

That longevity was recently celebrated by her employer and customers with a cake one day in October in the lobby of 5th/3rd Bank, 211 S. Mears Ave., in downtown Whitehall.

The 1971 graduate of Whitehall High School began working at Muskegon Federal Savings and Loan at that location in 1972, shortly after getting married. During her 40 years the bank name has been changed twice - to Ameribank and now 5th/3rd.