By FRED KRONER
Marc Frerichs and Kevin Stillwell grew up in central Illinois communities about 90 miles apart and graduated from high school four years apart.
They didn’t know each other.
They each had an interest in sports and they each entered the workforce after college in professions they eventually left decades ago.
They still didn’t know each other.
They became acquainted in 1986 while working together in their new-found careers, with Country Companies.
“Over nine years (working together) at Country we became good friends,” Frerichs said.
Twenty-five years ago this month, they took a leap of faith and opened the Frerichs & Stillwell Insurance Services, Inc., in St. Joseph (232 E. Lincoln Street), a few miles from Frerichs’ hometown of Royal.
“I have been fortunate to work with Kevin for 25 years,” Frerichs said.
They had the background and the savvy to succeed, but yet there were doubters as the duo sought to build their business from the ground up.
“I remember a competitor saying in 1996 when we left to start our agency that we would not last three months,” Stillwell said.
Truth is, that’s almost what happened, though it was not a reflection on their abilities or work ethics.
“That competitor was almost correct,” Stillwell said. “Three months after we founded our agency, a tornado struck Urbana and Ogden.”
It was a Friday night, shortly after 9 p.m. The date was April 19, 1996.
In Ogden, more than 80 homes were destroyed, another 200 suffered major damage and nearly three dozen others had partial damage. The Ogden Grade School and three churches in the community were destroyed.
“The timing was awful, not that there is ever a good time for a tornado,” Stillwell said. “We had just started to write business with several of our new insurance carriers and much of that new business would have immediate major losses.
“The tornado also kept us from writing several new clients that were dealing with loss from their current carrier.”
There was another complicating factor.
“Our old positions were not filled with the previous company yet, meaning that many people did not have an agent,” Stillwell recalled. “We spent time trying to help those former clients through the claim process.
“It was the right thing to do. We had income goals sliced, but not our expenses.”
Frerichs – who had lost his father in February of 1996 – and Stillwell were not thinking about reaching the 25-year milestone at that time.
They were figuring how to make it to 25 weeks.
“That tornado almost sunk our ship before we had a chance to leave the dock,” Stillwell said.
The timing, Frerichs said, was ill-fated.
“It came at a bad time as we were reaching out to our old clients to try to quote their insurance with our new companies,” he said. “So basically, we had to pivot away from Ogden until their claims were settled.”
Just when they thought it couldn’t get worse, the month of May, 1996 arrived.
“There was a hail storm three weeks after that tornado and there were more insurance claims with the hail storm than the tornado because the hail struck more homes,” Stillwell said. “That first year was very difficult, but it worked out.
“We kept a positive attitude as our new companies handled the claims in an awesome manner and our business began to grow, but I would not want to do it again.”
Along the path to 25 years in operation, there have been other bumps in the road.
“Actually, the Gifford tornado in (November) 2013 hit me harder as I had three farms destroyed, plus around 10 homes that were totaled, plus many more claims that weren’t total losses,” Frerichs said.
“But when all the claims were settled, I picked up many new clients as word got around that our companies treated our clients very fairly.”
Their 25th year as partners is a significant milestone.
“Marc and I are proud of building this insurance business from scratch,” Stillwell said. “We are blessed to have wonderful clients.
“Many of our clients have been with us for 20 to 25 years.”
The longevity for the company extends beyond the agents and their clients.
“Katie Johnson and Shannon Christians have both been on our staff for a long time and provide great customer service,” Stillwell said. “We represent many top-rated insurance companies with very good products and price.”
Frerichs said the efforts of Christians for the past 21 years and Johnson for the past 12 have been essential.
“I think we’d both agree that a big part of our business success is due to our office staff, Shannon and Katie,” Frerichs said. “Their ability and customer-service skills are top-notch.”
Stillwell is proud of how the business has continued to grow and thrive.
“We took a risk 25 years ago starting a business from scratch and it was the right move,” he said. “It’s not really work if you enjoy it.
“Let’s keep climbing and helping people. After all, you have to earn it.”
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Stillwell was born and raised in Shelbyville, and graduated from high school there in 1974.
He was a three-sport athlete – who was eventually inducted into the Shelbyville Hall of Fame – and credits his parents for instilling the values that followed him into adulthood.
“My parents would be my greatest role models,” Stillwell said. “They taught me the work ethic, ‘if you want it, you have to earn it.’
“My mother (Carrie Stillwell) thought it would be great if I could deliver 110 newspapers five afternoons per week while many kids were swimming at the public pool. My father (Joe Stillwell) helped me find 25 lawns to mow with a push mower, which was fine until extended rain.
“I then would be required to mow all 25 yards in about three days while pushing that mower all over town.”
The attitude of relentlessness served Stillwell in his sporting endeavors, which included setting a school single-season rebounding record in basketball.
“I am proud of the rebound record because I believe rebounding is about effort,” he said.
After completing his bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University in 1982, Stillwell was looking forward to a future in his chosen profession.
“My plans were to become a high school teacher and coach,” he said. “I taught health, driver education and physical education while coaching varsity basketball and baseball (at now-defunct Saybrook-Arrowsmith).
“Teaching and coaching at the high school level was terrific but I reached a crossroad in my career path. After working in education for three years I was offered a choice, another very good position in teaching/coaching or a job as a scratch agent with Country Companies.”
It was a daunting proposition for a young man still in his 20s. Scratch agents start with no client base and build from zero. It was a line of work that Stillwell found intriguing.
“I was interested in insurance work based on a couple of successful high school coaches making changes to that field,” Stillwell said. “John Blackburn was the basketball coach at our rival, Pana High School.
“I had student-taught for Bob Gregurich, at Havana High School during their state tourney days. Both guys left education to go to work for Country Companies. John later became CEO for the company and was a reference that led me into the insurance business.”
His entrance into insurance was also Stillwell’s introduction to Ben Louis, a former University of Illinois basketball player from the 1960s.
“Ben was my manager at Country Companies,” Stillwell said. “Ben was a large influence in teaching both Marc and I the insurance business.
“He was a great person, a great boss and a best friend. He taught me a great deal about insurance and people.
“He also taught me to leave business away from the golf course. He became an even better friend after I left Country Companies to start our own agency.”
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Frerichs will have two anniversaries to celebrate in 2021, starting with the one this month for the agency he and Stillwell founded in 1996.
“In July, I will reach 35 years in the (insurance) business,” Frerichs said.
It took some time before he found his way to that profession.
“Growing up, I always thought I would be a carpenter, like my father,” he said. “After junior college (in Danville, where he played baseball), I started in the construction business, building grain bins.”
That was followed by his first career change.
“In 1979, my brothers and I bought a bar and grill in Royal, which I ran for almost six years,” Frerichs said.
In the middle of 1986, he switched his line of work to insurance, when he joined Country Companies.
Throughout his various endeavors, Frerichs took to heart the words of his brothers.
“Role models for me would be my older brothers who showed me you could be successful if you kept working at it,” said the 1974 St. Joseph-Ogden graduate.
For the past quarter of a century, Frerichs & Stillwell Insurance Services, Inc., have offered unique services.
“Frerichs/Stillwell is a multi-line company that works with multiple companies to find the best coverage and price for our clients,” Frerichs said.
Looking ahead, he doesn’t anticipate major changes.
“In the future, keep doing what’s made us successful in the past: fair prices, good coverage and great service,” Frerichs said.
He and his wife, Cindy, have been married for 41 years and have two daughters, Meredith and Megan, and three grandchildren.
