Marked by a grand opening celebrating last Thursday, the Houston office of Farm Bureau Insurance is now located in the McCloud Center on South U.S. 63.
The office’s former location was next to Hutcheson Pharmacy across from TCMH.
“We expect to see an increase in walk-in traffic,” agent Calvin Malone said. “For the three years I’ve been with Farm Bureau I’ve dealt with people not knowing where we were at in the middle of town because we were down in a hole. I think this will give us much better visibility, and we certainly have better signage.”
Malone is a Licking resident who graduated from Salem High School and earned a degree in business administration from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar. He has been in the insurance business for the better part of a decade, spending several years with a firm in Rolla.
“A lot of people eat at Miller’s Grill, which is almost across the street,” Malone said. “So they can go there and eat lunch, come here and get a quote, and call it a day,” Malone said. “Plus, I now have an office with a window.”
Joining Malone and office manager Kristie Draayer at the new location is new agent Mike Anthony. A Plato resident and graduate of Plato High, Anthony was an all-state selection as a first baseman and clean-up hitter for the Eagles’ baseball team.
“I’m from this area and I’m a small-town guy,” he said. “I grew up hunting and fishing, and I know everything about this life in the country,” he said. “So I also know what it takes to cover your life in the country.”
You might say Anthony has insurance in his blood, because his father has been a Farm Bureau agent in Lebanon for almost 10 years.
“He’s very successful and taught me everything I know,” Anthony said. “Hopefully I can follow in his footsteps.”
“And mine,” Malone said.
Anthony is also an evangelist, who preaches at area churches that are temporarily in need of a pastor.
“Whenever a church needs a fill-in pastor, I’m there for them,” he said. “I’ve been doing that since I was 15; in fact the first time I preached was in front of a congregation of about 150 people when I was 15. God’s ministry is my main focus in life.”
Malone said there are several reasons why having two agents can benefit customers.
“An insurance agent usually knows a lot about a lot of different things, but they’re really good at one thing,” he said. “Sometimes if you get a new guy in with a different background, he might be better at a line of insurance than you are. It’s nice to feed off of that, and it’s nice to be competitive, too.
“And one agent can easily get spread pretty thin, so having more than one can definitely benefit clients.”
“Together, we’re ready to accept all business,” Anthony said. “We don’t care who you are or where you’ve been.”
“There’s nothing too small, and nothing too big,” Malone said. “We have a place here for everyone.”
For more information, call 417-967-3725.
Last week was a busy one for Texas County Farm Bureau.
On Thursday, an open house and grand opening celebration was at the new Farm Bureau Insurance location on South U.S. 63 in the McCloud Center. The event included a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, and a free lunch attended by about 100 people.
On Friday and Saturday, Farm Bureau representatives were on hand at the annual Farmfest and Outdoors in the Ozarks Expo in Cabool, including county President Don Luerssen, board members Gus and Betty Adams and Leona Luerssen. Also attending to promote the Young Farmers and Ranchers organization were Chairperson Kaylyn Dalbom, Ryan Luerssen, Josh Luerssen and Andy Middleton.
Promotion and education board member Mike Luerssen was also there to present Sarah Delight with a scholarship.
During both the open house and Farmfest events, tickets were sold for a chance to win a new Ford F-150 pickup donated to Farm Bureau by the Missouri Ford Dealers to be given away at this year’s State Fair in Sedalia.
LEONA LUERSSEN