Toby Oesterling has been working as Sales Coordinator for Giesting Financial for the last five years. Prior to joining the firm, she had spent 20 years in banking and financial services, starting out as a teller then being promoted up the ladder to new accounts, consumer lending, assistant management, and finally, training. At one point she held her Series 6 and 63 registrations; she is still licensed in life insurance.

“Mark and Denise needed someone in the office. They knew about my background and reached out to me because my son, Andrew, and their son, Max, are good friends. I’ve never regretted a minute of my last five years with Giesting. I’m a ‘jack of all trades’ and do many different things in the office, from processing paperwork to researching information to tracking transactions and clearing up issues. We’re growing and it’s hectic, but gratifying,” she says.

Toby is from the Batesville, Indiana area—she was born and raised in a small town nearby called Osgood. She grew up with her five brothers and sisters so there was always something to do, from playing sports to playing board games to riding bikes. “We made our own fun,” Toby says. She played basketball and was a cheerleader in junior high, “then I got a car,” she jokes.

She began working as a nurse’s aide when she was 16 years old; in fact, after graduating from Jac-Cen-Del High School she studied nursing for a year at Ball State University. She continued working as a nurse’s aide until she met her future husband, Jim, through mutual friends; the two were married when she was 26 years old. “And we’re still married 30 years later,” Toby says.

Toby and Jim have three children; the family is shown here on a weekend trip to Chicago in 2019.

Emily, the oldest, on the left in the photo below, lives in Houston and is a high school English literature teacher. Audrey, on the right, lives in Jacksonville, Florida and is also a high school English literature teacher. Audrey is planning a wedding back in Batesville in June 2022 because her fiancé is also from the area; they were high school sweethearts before getting engaged.

Toby and Jim’s youngest child, Andrew, is attending his first year at University of Cincinnati studying business. (Toby says, “So now we are officially empty-nesters.”) He recently decided to transfer to Hanover College this coming January when he will claim his academic scholarship and begin playing baseball again—he missed the sport too much and wants to play as long as he can.

This past Thanksgiving was the first time the whole family had been together since the pandemic started. They are all looking forward to Audrey’s upcoming nuptials and family gatherings it will bring. Toby loves to spend time with her kids whenever she can; they have a lot of fun together.

In her free time, Toby likes to play golf, playing once a week on a league. She quips, “I’m terrible, but I like to play.” She is also an “antique picker” who scours antique and thrift shops for valuable items. In every season except the dead of winter you will find her in her vegetable garden or canning her homegrown bounty. She recently put up quite a few jars of pear butter from pears grown on her mother-in-law’s farm.

As new empty-nesters, Toby and Jim enjoy spending time together, although Toby enjoys her “shared custody” of the neighbor’s dog, Bodhi, more than Jim does. Jim has worked at Batesville Casket as a sourcing manager for the last 38 years, procuring manufacturing materials such as steel for the company. The two will celebrate their 30^th wedding anniversary next October.