COMMENTS FROM BOB'S COWORKERS

Bob is a high-ranking member of that team of agents with many years of service who have made Farm Bureau Insurance grow and thrive in Idaho.

 

He made a career out of caring for his clients and putting their needs first.

 

Bob created an atmosphere of comfort in the St Maries office. I know his clients are his friends and they felt comfortable meeting with him, knowing he would do his best for them.

 

Congratulations to “Benewah Bob” on a job well done! I wish you a long and happy retirement. 

-Lex Heyer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing (Retired)

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Congratulations on an your retirement after 41 years of service.

 

Your loyalty and commitment to our clients and community is so impressive. The Farm Bureau family is lucky to have found such a down-to-earth, sincere person to represent the St. Maries office.

 

There are lots of things that impress me about you and the way you handle business. I love that you genuinely care about each and every customer, but your kindness is what stands out the most. I’m sure this is why you still service some of your very first clients and their families.

 

I am appreciative that both you and Susie Patterson (CSR) have welcomed me with open arms. I certainly have huge shoes to fill; and I am inspired to follow in your footsteps.

 

Susie and I will certainly look forward to your visits and hearing about your adventures in retirement.

 

May the rest of your life be the best of your life. Cheers! 

-Janel Holmes, Agent, St. Maries

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We appreciate the dedication Bob has shown to Farm Bureau Insurance and his customers for the past 41 years. Bob has helped build our company into what it is today by putting customer service first. The company will benefit from Bob's hard work and commitment for years to come. I wish him all the best in his retirement.  

-Chuck McDaniel, Vice President of Sales and Marketing

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Bob,

 

Your retirement brings me an upwelling of emotions. I am overjoyed for you to have the freedom to tackle your bucket list. It will do your soul well to check things off your project list because, before now, you didn’t have enough time. And you will get to spend time with your wife going on adventures near and far. Retirement gives you as much time as you need for your family and to really enjoy the grand and great-grand kids. Like a grandfather, you have imparted to me wisdom for life, and it would be a travesty for you to not have the time to give it to your next generations. Now you will have that time to do for yours as you have done for me, and I can’t be happier for them to have quality time with you. Your joy is mine!
 

As much as joy fills me thinking about it, I admit a bit of jealousy and loss over a true friend. I have had a comfort knowing you will reliably be in the office every week, a confidant through everything these past nine years. You shared the stories of your adventures with me and I shared mine with you. In our office, we belly laughed over unbelievable stories, cried over young lives lost, outraged over injustices, and of course picked upon one another for our crazy quirks. It’s surprising how completely opposite our interests and knowledge lie, but we get along so well. Mutual respect and care between coworkers can be so hard to find. I thank God for the work environment he set up for us. As far as picking upon one another goes, I am sure you still laugh about giving me a drawing of a car you made with all the basic parts labeled after I asked where the fender was on a car (I was new to insurance, but I wasn’t THAT naïve about cars! … I do know what a door is!). You also thought it was pretty funny I thought it was “Silverauto” instead of “Silverado.” But I still make sure to lovingly let people know to not trust you in an emergency. There was a day when my stomach went into extremely painful spasms midstride and I crumpled to the floor in the office. Bob went still and silent for about 30 seconds and then confessed “I don’t know what to do.” I then directed him from the floor in my agony how to proceed. You still give me a sideways look when I laughingly tell that story to our customers.
 

In all seriousness, I will miss your presence in the office. Your 41 years of experience make me enviable for having a mentor such as you. Your commitment to customer service and holding it more important than the bottom line is admirable and unique in our line of business. You value the customers’ needs, fight for them when you need to, and genuinely care for them and their personal lives. It was an honor to see true character modeled before me. I know God blesses you for the care, compassion, and integrity you display in your life. Those are not words but actions you take throughout each day. I hope by the grace of God I can continue the legacy and make you and Him proud.
 

My final and most overwhelming emotion in this melting pot called “Bob’s Retirement” is sadness. You have been my family and my father. Without family in the area, you and Koreena both have shared life with me. Your stalwart presence and sage advice has guided me through other losses and hardships and the changes of life. You strove to understand, support, and encourage me and be honest with me when I was being ignorant. I know you have equipped me to care for your clients and you have shared your wisdom on how to overcome life’s obstacles, but despite your preparation to continue without you it is still a painful prospect to face. It feels like a loss. Yes, you will still be in town and you aren’t moving away, but you and Koreena have blessed me beyond what I can describe. I hope the two of you will keep in touch with us and that you can still take part in my son’s life. He is going to be so sad to hear when he gets back that he missed “Uncle” Bob’s party on the 17th!
 

Now Bob, I know I am the bubbling emotional pot compared to your dry “buttered toast” of emotions. So please forgive the pot for overflowing, but I wanted everyone to know how truly special you are and I wanted to publicly express my gratitude for changing my life for the best. If ever you or Koreena need anything, please know that we will always be there for you like family.

With Gratitude and Love,

-Susie Patterson, CSR, PA to Bob Stowell, St. Maries

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Congrats to Bob Stowell who’s retiring after 41 years of service. While we always visited and often hoisted a drink or two at agency gatherings, we best got to know each other over a snowy, eight-hour trip to Statewide while riding in the backseat of Sam Rogers’ two-door 1979 Cadillac Coupe deVille. Sam and Dennis Culp had plenty of leg room in the front of that 20-foot-long Cadillac. Bob and I were crammed into a backseat that was the size of a Camaro’s. During that confinement, we visited about all sorts of things.

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As we traveled south, I learned that Bob was recruited away from being a butcher in Plummer. At agency get togethers, Bob had amazed us with his barbecuing talents. I guess it was only natural that he was a butcher in a prior life. During that conversation, I also learned of his disdain for chicken.

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Halfway through the trip, we got into the eight-track tapes. Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits never sounded better!

 

As we approached Idaho Falls, we discovered a headlight out on the Cadillac. Sam pulled into a gas station/convenience store to see if we could find a replacement. We all bet that there would be no headlight in a convenience store! Bob furthered the bet by waging that if Sam found one, he would install it. Ten minutes later, Bob was standing outside putting in a headlight.
  
At the Finance Company Awards Banquet, many of us have seen Bob winning add-on’s for one or the other of his Porsches, so it really wasn’t much of a challenge for him to install the headlight... other than the freezing wind and snow of Eastern Idaho didn’t make for a very comfortable workshop.

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One tradition that Bob (and me too) was glad to see go by the wayside was the business turn-in at Statewide. Not only was it a long drawn out process to have the microphone passed to over 125 agents to report on their prior week’s property/casualty and life production, an audit of the numbers would have quickly proven that there may have been some exaggeration going on. Bob never learned the game “The First Liar Loses” however.

 

Consequently, many of us found out that selling life insurance was not one of Bob’s favorite responsibilities. More than once, we witnessed him being the only agent in the state to be passed the mic and report “No Life”. While it may have been embarrassing, it’s a complement to Bob’s integrity! Even though life insurance wasn’t his strong suit, Bob has been frequently recognized among the state leaders in health insurance production!  

 

I’m looking forward to bumping into Bob while he’s enjoying family, friends, cars and retirement in beautiful North Idaho! After 41 years of service he deserves it! 

-Ben Rae, District Manager, Northern Idaho

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