The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Job well done
'Every day will be like a Saturday:' Farm Bureau Insurance agent retires
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: February 21, 2008
After 43 years as a Farm Bureau Insurance agent in Chelsea, Dave Rowe is putting down his policy pen and calling it quits at the end of this month
Advertisement
"I'm winding down, getting things caught up," he said recently.
His partner, Rick Eder, will take over the office at 1250 S. Main St.
Rowe said he was proud to have been in business for so long in the town where he was born and raised.
"Both grandfathers and my mother and father were in business here," he noted, and his
He spent the entire 43 years with Farm Bureau, becoming an agent in February 1965.
His first office was in his home on Summit Street, he said, and his client base is primarily Chelsea, Dexter, Stockbridge, Grass Lake and Ann Arbor.
"It's been a pretty steady, small-town business," Rowe said.
"I may have sacrificed by staying in a small town, but it's been a good living, it's a good lifestyle.
"Economically I probably would have been better off going to a larger population, but I don't regret it."
The biggest change in the company over the years has been the number of agents and home office personnel, but it's just as personable as it was 43 years ago, Rowe noted.
"I can still get on the phone and talk to any executive I want to," he said.
Computers have made the biggest difference in the industry, he added, because of the increasing complexity and sophistication of policies and products offered.
The company started in 1949 and its first agents were actually part-time farmers, Rowe said, who worked the fields and sold policies to other farmers.
The disappearance of small farms over time has meant a decrease in the company's core business from about a 30 percent share to 10 percent, according to Rowe.
"Our farm business has shrunk tremendously, it doesn't make up a very big portion of my business anymore," he said.
"Some of my most important customers are farmers; they've been with me the longest and I enjoy them the most."
One of the achievements he is most proud of is his CPCU, or Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation.
"It's pretty exclusive," he said. "It sets forth rules of professional conduct."
Rowe's wife Joanne has been with him in business right from the start.
"She retired two years ago, she was my partner for about 20 of the 43 years," he said.
The couple have four kids, 14 grandkids and one great-grandchild, all of whom live in the area.
A retirement party was held for him Feb. 8 at the Comfort Inn Village Conference Center.
Rowe was very low-key when asked about his retirement plans.
"My wife and I will play a lot more golf," Rowe said.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
