Queen of the Road: Sybil Wooten recounts her many years of leading travel groups

Sybil Wooten has always enjoyed working with and being around people. It is one of the main qualities that helped her enjoy success as a manager of customer service at the former First National Bank of Corbin. As it turns out, it also made her a perfect fit to help people realize their dreams of traveling to exciting destinations for nearly 20 years.

Wooten was well aware of First National’s group travel program while working in customer service, but she was somewhat surprised when her boss at the time ended up giving her the opportunity to lead it.

“I said I didn’t know, and that I would have to talk about it with my husband,” Wooten said. “It was a very good opportunity, but I wouldn’t do it without my husband.”

Wooten ended up accepting the position, and in the years that followed, she and her husband, Roy, would end up traveling together from one end of the country to the other. As participants of the bank’s travel group, they had the opportunity to not only traverse the United States, but also to visit other countries, including a couple on the European continent.

All of this didn’t happen without a great deal of work on Wooten’s part, however.

“When I took the job, I went into the office and said, ‘Oh Lord, I don’t know what I’m doing,’” Wooten recalled. “So, I just sat down and prayed. I said, ‘Lord, if this is the door that has opened for me, then please help me.’”

In order to better equip herself to take on the role of a full-time travel planner for what was known as the bank’s Golden Passport Program, which was designed specifically with travelers 55-years-old and above in mind, Wooten decided to head back to school.

“I contacted an international school on travel,” Wooten said. “I took a two-year course, and completed it in eight months.”

Wooten said that, in order to accomplish this feat, it required a lot of studying while on the road. All of the studying paid off, though, because she was able to pass the course, which made her feel much more comfortable about handling the many responsibilities of her new position.

“I started booking trips, with my first being to the Opryland Hotel, I believe,” Wooten said. “From there, I just booked everywhere in the U.S.”

For the better part of two decades after that, Wooten grew to become a pro at organizing group travel adventures. Eventually, she started a travel program for Hometown Bank, who is still offering travel opportunities to this day.

“I feel like this is the best thing for people over 55,” Wooten said of travel groups. “At that age, people begin not wanting to drive as much. A lot of them are widows, too. I had people all the way up to 90-years-old.”

“If someone under 55 wanted to go, they could always pay and go along with someone,” Wooten added.

When asked about some of the main benefits to traveling as a group, Wooten explained that, because of the shared cost, it provides people who wouldn’t normally be able to make these trips on their own with the opportunity to do so.

“I have had people tell me that they could have never gone if I had not helped them,” Wooten said.

As stated earlier, despite the reward, it is still a big undertaking to be the person ultimately responsible for planning and executing a trip on behalf of a large group of people.

“It is a 24/7 job if you do everything yourself,” Wooten said. “I always did it that way, though, because I wanted to know that everything was being carried out the way that I had planned it. I also wanted to be able to personally negotiate the best possible prices for our customers.”

Phyllis Jobe was a part of some of the groups that Wooten led, and she is still actively participating in group travel opportunities today.

“I go as much as I can,” said Jobe. “I like being on the buses, and getting to visit with everyone. I actually just got back from Memphis. It is a great way to travel.”

After describing their travels as the “joy of mine and my husband’s” lives, Wooten said that she doesn’t find herself on the road much these days. She said that she may decide to plan some trips in the future, however.

When asked what some of her personal favorite destinations have been, she had a difficult time putting one destination above another, but she did say that she enjoyed getting to see the Dakotas here in the continental U.S. She also said that Canada was a real pleasure to visit, especially Nova Scotia.

If you would be interested in learning more about how to become a part of a travel group, ask around to see what opportunities might be available at your financial institution, religious organization or other business, educational and/or community entities with which you might be affiliated.