“Stay with me, Lord,” Eileen Hardy said as her pickup careened over the side of a 135-foot snow-covered embankment. It was 9:15 AM on an April morning in 2001. Eileen’s truck had just hit a patch of black ice on Highway 21, Idaho’s Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway, while she was driving from Boise to Challis. For Eileen, the accident would become a testament to her faith. “My faith is one of the crowning points of my life,” Eileen says. “The other crowning point is my family.” As Eileen prepares to retire from Farm Bureau Insurance after 25 years as an agent in Challis, she can look back on a career and life filled with many other points, both highs and lows.

 

Eileen was born on an island in the middle of the Snake River in Washington. “We were poor growing up,” Eileen says. Her father had served in London during World War II and her grandparents helped raise her. Her family was sugar beet farmers in Nyssa, Oregon, and Parma, Idaho, with ties to the U and I Sugar Company. “I lived in hay country,” Eileen says, “and had an ag background.”

 

During high school she worked as a car hop and jewelry store clerk. At the jewelry store she learned how to engrave by hand and engraved several of her own trophies she won for various activities. In 1961, Eileen graduated with High Honors from Clarkston High School and was awarded a college scholarship for her singing from the Coca-Cola company. 1961 was also the year she won the Miss Clarkston Pageant and was first runner-up in the Miss Washington pageant.

 

Eileen moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah where she studied English and Journalism while also working for the LDS Church. After graduating, Eileen worked as a beat reporter for the Ponca City Daily News in Oklahoma. Eileen’s editor at the Daily News was Gareth Muchmore, a reporter who had worked alongside the famous European correspondent Ernie Pyle during World War II. “I was a police reporter and wrote all kinds of daily columns,” Eileen says about her time at the Daily News. “My first byline was for an article I wrote about the Canadian geologists who discovered oil in the Florida Keys. The geologists were friends of mine.” Eileen’s writing career supported her and her husband, Jack, whom she had married in Ponca City, while he attended college. After he graduated the couple moved to Arizona where Eileen continued to pursue her professional writing career at a local newspaper. She also sold several of her stories to national magazines, including Reader’s Digest and Good Housekeeping. During this period she somehow found time to teach ballroom dancing at the nearby Fred Astaire Dance Studio. “One of my students was Kirk Douglas’ half-brother,” she recalls. Eileen and Jack would also have five children – Jacqueline, Christopher, Tyler, Travis, and Jackson.

 

In 1994, Eileen, along with eight other candidates, applied for the Farm Bureau agent position in Challis. She was waiting to hear about the job when her son, Travis, who was a musician touring with the Braun Brothers band, developed heart problems and suffered a stroke. Eileen flew to Denver to be with Travis. While she was sitting at Travis’ bedside at the hospital, Eileen received a call. It was Dennis Reilly, Farm Bureau Insurance’s Regional Manager for the Challis area, offering her the job. “Dennis held the job for me for three months while Travis was hospitalized,” Eileen says. Once she was able to begin the job Eileen promised Dennis she would “give it one year.” At the end of the first year she told Dennis she would try it for five years. “Once I commit to something I stick to it.”

 

One of the first significant events of her Farm Bureau career was an incident that would test her commitment to her word. “I hadn’t been an agent very long,” Eileen explains, “when I got a call from the Vice President of Underwriting and Information Services, Dave Burnham.” Dave told Eileen that a claim from one of her clients had come across his desk and he just wanted to ask her one thing about it. Eileen straightened in her chair, readying herself for the question. “If this was your money paying the claim,” Dave asked her, “would you pay?” Eileen had known the clients long before they were customers and trusted them. She hesitated only a moment before replying, “This needs to be paid. Take it out of my paycheck. Don’t take it all at once, try to spread it around if you can.” Eileen’s response was met by silence on the other end of the line. Finally Dave came back with, “Okay, you got it!” Of course, the company didn’t take Eileen’s money for the claim, but they did take her advice and paid it. “That incident made me think about what kinds of risks the company should take.” To help herself evaluate these potential risks, Eileen has relied on her own set of personal values. After 25 years of evaluating risks as an insurance professional, Eileen believes that sometimes “you have to go on a gut feeling.”

 

One of the saddest moments of Eileen’s Farm Bureau career happened after a meeting with a single mother. The woman told Eileen she could buy a cheaper life insurance policy from another company. “I told her I knew she could find a policy for less money, but with Farm Bureau she would know exactly what the company would do for her.” The woman eventually decided to purchase the cheaper policy from the other company. A year later, though, she returned to Eileen’s office. “This time she was wearing a scarf around her head,” Eileen says. “She had been diagnosed with cancer and wanted to know if she could still get the policy we discussed or if there was any chance she could get a high-risk policy.” Eileen apologized and began the difficult process of explaining that there was nothing she could do for her now. “She’s gone now and I’ll never forget that feeling of helplessness.” Ever since that incident, Eileen has tried her best to sell life policies to single mothers. “I’ll do whatever I can to get them into a policy. And it’s not for the commission. There isn’t a lot of commission of life policies. You do it because you have respect and concern for other people.”

 

Eileen believes this concern for others is the attitude that any new agent should bring to the job. “It’s not about the money you make. It’s about the services you’re able to provide for clients.” Just moments before Eileen called for this interview, she met with the beneficiary of a Farm Bureau life insurance policy. A woman who had been a long-time client and close friend of Eileen’s had recently died from injuries sustained in a car accident. During the meeting the woman’s daughter told Eileen that her mom “would be so glad” that Eileen was the person who was helping her after the accident. “This job can get tough sometimes,” Eileen says. “But you just do it. It makes you stronger.”

 

During Eileen’s own accident in 2001, as her truck tumbled down the embankment, striking Ponderosa Pine branches along the way, Eileen said, “Not today, Lord.” Finally, her pickup came to rest at the bottom of the embankment in the waters of Canyon Creek “on the only boulder in the river.” The hood had flipped up, covering the windshield with snow, and she had hit her head hard on the back window. “Please, Lord,” Eileen prayed, “don’t let me lose consciousness.” Still groggy from the crash, Eileen slid barefoot out of the truck and into hip-deep water. She waded to shore and began the long climb back up to the road. “Every time I took a step the snow would slide back down the embankment taking me with it,” she remembers. After struggling for some time in this fashion and gaining little ground, Eileen looked to her left and noticed a bump in the snow with twigs sticking out of it. It was a tree. Eileen was able to reach the tree and use its branches to climb to the top of the embankment. She was sitting on the side of the highway when a van pulling a trailer stopped. The driver was an emergency room nurse from Helena, Montana. She and her husband helped Eileen into the van, drove her to Stanley, and laid her down on a gas station floor. “They were afraid my neck was broken.” Eileen was laying on the floor, “hoping no one from Challis would walk in and see me” when the door opened and someone from Challis – an emergency medical technician – walked in. The EMT took Eileen to the hospital. “I know I was saved that day,” Eileen says.

 

Eileen is currently writing a story about the accident called “Angels on the Backside of Banner [Peak].” Getting back into writing is just one activity Eileen has planned after her retirement. She also plans to volunteer as a tour guide at the Custer Museum. “I love to tell stories about other people,” she says. Eileen also has a cabin on the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River where she enjoys gold panning and “gathering rocks.” She also looks forward to spending more time with her family. Her family has recently grown, thanks to the results of a DNA test, to include four siblings she hadn’t known about who live in San Francisco. The results also revealed that Eileen is half Italian (Sicilian), and that her father’s surname was La Facia, “much to the amusement of Frank Violanti at the Home Office.”

 

Looking back on her career, Eileen says, “I wouldn’t trade my Farm Bureau experience for anything. I can’t say enough good things about the people of Farm Bureau.” She also believes the company will continue to move forward through its own high and low points because “Farm Bureau understands that customer service – concern for other people – is what makes the company tick.”

 

Please join us in thanking Eileen for her dedicated service and congratulating her on her well-deserved retirement. A reception for Eileen will be held on Friday, May 31, from noon to 2:00 PM at the park across from the Farm Bureau office at 1321 Main Street in Challis. A light lunch will be served. Eileen’s son, Travis, will play at the reception and her replacement, Jolene Zollinger, will also be on hand to say hello. Please RSVP by May 29 by calling (208) 879-2553.

​

NOTES FROM EILEEN'S COWORKERS

I have had the pleasure of working with Miss Eileen for about three plus years. During this time, I have never once heard a stern tone in her voice, or found her to be anything but bubbly and happy. She maintained this positive attitude even when dealing with some of the struggles that we have had with the system. Anytime I helped her with system questions or business processes she was very grateful and made sure I knew that she appreciated my help. This wonderful lady will be missed, not only by her clients but missed by those of us who have had experiences with her. She is as beautiful inside as she is out, and I wish her nothing but the best, she will forever have a friend with me. Love you, Miss Eileen!

-Cody Bird, Inside Sales and Support Team Lead

​

Eileen, it’s been a pleasure working with you all these years. You are always so pleasant even in that last minute sticky situation. I appreciate you being so supportive and working so well with the Brokerage Team. 
I will miss working with you and wish you the best in your retirement. 

-Jamie Carter, Brokerage Manager 

​

I always enjoyed my visits with Eileen in Challis. Several times we would walk from the office to the restaurant for lunch. It seemed like everybody in Challis knew Eileen. She was Farm Bureau Insurance to her community and represented that position very well. Her clients were her friends and she had a desire to do the very best she could for them in taking care of their insurance needs. Additionally she was always heavily involved in leadership positions in local charities. Everyone knew that Eileen would get the job done. I have a feeling those responsibilities won’t go away with Eileen’s retirement. Eileen, congratulations on a job well done. I hope you have a long and happy retirement.

-Lex Heyer, former Vice President of Sales (retired)

​

Eileen cares deeply for her clients, and treats everyone like family. She has given over 25 years of service to benefit Farm Bureau and its members.  She is an active participant in community events and is thrilled to see others succeed. We are grateful for her many contributions and hope that she can enjoy her family as she retires.

-Vance Nielsen, Regional Executive, Eastern Idaho

​

Eileen has been a pleasure to work with all of these years. She is always so friendly even when something might not be going how she or her customer would like it to. I wish her the best in her retirement and I’m sure she will enjoy having more time as she is always on the run. Good Luck! 

-Kim Parish, Brokerage Underwriter

​

I am so excited for Eileen and her new adventure. Eileen has been a great agent to work with. Whenever she would call she was so sweet and nice to me. It was nice to talk and work with her to do what we both felt would be great for her insureds. Eileen taught me a lot about myself - more than she knows. I want to wish her the best!

-Asenath Tubbs, Commercial Lines Underwriter

​

EMPLOYEE NEWS