FARGO -- It's going to be an emotional, bitter sweet celebration in downtown Gackle, N.D., on Thursday, Dec. 19.

That's when one of the state's most dedicated bank tellers retires after 71 years counting cash.

But there's more -- a mother and daughter will mark a retirement milestone.

With all the hunters gone, things have sure quieted down on the streets of Gackle, which is about 40 miles southwest of Jamestown.

But on Wednesday, the day before an expected storm, all eyes and hearts were set on the Dakota Heritage Bank on Main Street.

"Good morning," Marilyn Elhard, bank teller, says to a customer.

"Well, hello Marilyn," the customer said.

"Good morning, Dakota Heritage," Marilyn says as she greets a caller.

Marilyn Elhard, who just turned 90, is just hours away from retirement. She has been a bank teller and loan officer for 71 years.

"I never left," Marilyn said.

She still uses her old paper cutter and this old ... "Feb. 25th, 1890," Marilyn says of the old manual coin counter.

Ancient coin counter -- Marilyn is the only one using it.

"Just like that, you have your three cents," Marilyn said, smiling.

But it's not just Marilyn retiring. Her daughter Patty has been working here for 50 years. Both, mother and daughter, are stepping away together.

"She always taught us you work and you get nothing handed to you, but I always told her, 'I am not working as long as you did,' " Patty Elhard, Marilyn's daughter, said.

Imagine what Marilyn has witnessed all these decades. Remember, she started in the 1950s -- ATMs, drive-up banking and computers.

"I am already scared. I get up early. What am I going to be doing laying in bed? Now, I have a reason to get up," Marilyn said.

She knows them all, their account numbers. Their children's names along with the happy and sad times they've endured together.

"You want to sign that, how do you want those bills," Marilyn asks a customer.

"She knows my number without even looking at it," the customer said.

"I had all those little old grandmas come in and they would bring in noodles and crocheted things, I still have a lot of that stuff," Marilyn said.

But it's time. This spitfire bank teller who started out of high school in 1953. This is where she stayed.

"Yep," Marilyn said of her 71 years, pausing to think of that amazing tenure.

The town, the bank and customers are all better because of her.

"OK, thank you," Marilyn said to a customer after a transaction.