Return to the Land

Cunningham Business School. Upon graduation he found a job as a salesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Because times were still hard for this young couple Estelle worked for the Folding Printing Company. Something else prompted Carl to look for greener pastures and that was his growing family. By now his daughter Katherine Imogene had been born and his son Richard C. was on the way. His obligations had increased. Estelle had a full-time job at home now and gave up her work at the printing company. In 1926, Carl began selling insurance for The Metropolitan Insurance Company. In those days weekly premiums were collected from door to door. So he made many contacts and business acquaintances early in his career. In 1928, the company recognized him as their leading salesman. From 1932 to 1952 he sold insurance for American Health Corporation and became the West Virginia state manager in 1938. In 1948, he was appointed the state manager for Virginia. As his business grew beyond his expectations he took on a partner, Mr. Carson Mays. That partnership brought even more success. Their area covered the entire state of West Virginia. They opened an office in Roanoke where Carl would work during the week and commute to Bluefield for the weekends. The Bluefield office had a full time staff so they were operating two offices. Success now had brought Carl and Estelle a better life style. They purchased a beautiful two-story home on Rockbridge Street. Their third child, Mark Lee, was born in 1934. The two older children married by the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and Mark became the sunshine of their lives. He was a happy and humorous child and was known to play practical jokes on friends. Even in adulthood he always has a funny story to tell. Mark taught me how to play games and I considered my older and wiser cousin a role model on whom I fashioned my attitudes and habits. As I grew older Aunt Estelle and Uncle Carl treated me like one of their own. I remember Aunt Estelle coming to my defense when my mother would scold me for childish behavior. Carl ’s family was a religious family and they attended Grace Methodist Church and later Trinity Methodist Church on College Avenue. Their son, Richard, married Lillian Sarver in Trinity Methodist Church in 1947. I distinctly remember being a ribbon boy for the ceremony in the large ornate sanctuary. I was accustomed to a small country church and had never experienced such grandiose beauty before as in this church. Imogene became an elementary school teacher, as did her husband Harold Browning. Richard worked for a food industry distribution company that covered most of southern West Virginia. And after college Mark became a pharmaceutical executive. Tragedy eventually befell Carl ’s insurance business in the late 1940’s. His partner, Carson Mays, was accidentally killed in a fire in his home in Roanoke. Rather than trying to maintain the Virginia position on his own Carl elected to close the Roanoke office due to the large volume of business and the extra responsibilities place d on him. After paying Carson’s estate for his portion of the business Carl returned to Bluefield. The business required him to travel throughout the state and he decided to limit himself to a more local area. He eventually sold his agency and again became a one person organization selling and administering policies

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