Cook Insurance Agency - History of the Agency

Cook Insurance was born September 1, 1968 with the purchase of the Karl Simmons agency by Charles Cook. Since Charles had no background in insurance, he needed a lot of help and advice. KB Simmons was an ideal teacher. He ran his business with a firm but fair hand. Charles tried to follow in his footsteps. 1968 was an ideal time to start a business since the economy was in a downturn, soon it recovered and Cook Insurance prospered.

In the interval between 1968 and 1988 when Charles retired, the agency grew very successfully and became quite a large business. In 1977 Linda Bernhard joined the staff as office manager and this worked very successfully until 1988 at which time she bought the business from Mr. Cook upon his retirement. Although the company has new ownership, the Cook name was maintained to help avoid confusion among the customers and to avoid the time and expense of changing policy headings, letterhead, advertising, handouts, etc.

Cook Insurance and German Farmers Mutual are not related, but work out of the same office to the advantage of everyone involved. Cook Insurance can cover your autos, your liability, your ‘toys’ such as boats, snowmobiles, four-wheelers, motorcycles, campers, guns, antiques etc.

Costs and expenses are skyrocketing in the insurance business all over today but Cook Insurance has been very successful and hopes to service the community for many years to come.