Suttles sets off after 50-year run
■ The longtime Shelter Insurance agent describes himself as a ‘people person’ who thrives on interacting with his customers.
Shelter Insurance agent Jerrell Suttles found his career by accident — a four-car pileup to be exact.
Suttles said he was working as a cost accountant in the 1960s when he found himself in the middle of the pileup, caused by an overly polite driver who stopped to let someone out on the roadway. Suttles wasn’t injured, but as he worked with his insurance agent to file a claim on the damage to his car, he became fascinated with the career.
“It just seemed like it would be an interesting job,” he said.
On Feb. 1, 1968, Suttles became an insurance adjuster for MFA Insurance, which would eventually become Shelter Insurance. Twoand-a-half years later, he became an agent for the company in Siloam Springs. He retired last week, exactly 50 years and two days after his career began.
Suttles sold his agency to Jimmy Allen, who will continue to care for all of Suttles’ customers.
Even though Suttles may have gotten into the insurance business by accident, his love for taking care of people made the career a perfect fit. Suttles’ personal touch with customers and his background as an insurance adjuster set him apart.
“I haven’t considered it work; I grew up on a farm where work was really work, and this is fun, just taking care of people,” Suttles said. “If you like people, it’s a great job. I look forward to coming to work on Monday and
not many people do.”
Starting his insurance career as an adjuster taught Suttles about customer service and also made him very familiar with the fine print of the insurance policies.
“Starting out in claims rather than in sales, you were in service, so when I came to the agency I still think of it as service, not just look and see how much money you can make, but how can you take care of people,” Suttles said.
Suttles doesn’t sit behind a closed door while office personnel help his customers. In fact, his office doesn’t even have a door. Interacting with people is what he enjoys the most about his job.
“From the lack of a better term, I’m a people person,” he said.
Suttles shares life experiences with his customers, from highlights such as buying a new car or having a new baby to lows such as having a car accident or losing a loved one.
“You’re there to share that life experience with the customer, day after day after day, so that is the reason that no two days are alike,” Suttles said.
Some of Suttles’ customers have been with him for more than 40 years and a few were with his agency before he started. Through the years they have become like family, he said.
Very few people are
Starting out in claims rather than in sales, you were in service, so when I came to the agency I still think of it as service, not just look and see how much money you can make, but how can you take care of people. Jerrell Suttles, longtime insurance agent
lucky enough, as I’ve been, to do something they thoroughly enjoy,” Suttles said. “I will miss the interaction with my customers.”
Suttles’ daughter Susan Suttles followed in his footsteps and worked as an adjuster for a number of years before coming to work alongside her father as an agent 13 years ago. Now that her dad is retired, Susan plans to work managing her family’s commercial property business.
Suttles rarely misses a day in the office, and in the past he has often come in for a few hours on holidays just to make sure everything is running smoothly. To help him transition to retirement, Suttles and his wife Ruth Ann are taking a month-long trip to Florida. The couple is planning another three-month-long trip across Canada this summer to keep them busy.
Suttles is confident that Allen, who also started his career as an insurance adjuster, will take care of his customers.
Allen is moving the business just down the road and across the street to 816 S. Mt. Olive St., the former location of B&M Cleaners. Another Shelter Insurance business, owned by Agent April Rich, is moving into Suttles’ building, located at 711 S. Mt. Olive St.