Suhr reflects on 50 years of business

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Don Suhr had never sold an insurance policy when he bought into the insurance business owned by Paul Hafemeister in 1962.

“I almost didn’t get in. I didn’t have the money and nobody wanted to loan me the money,” he said.

But 50 years later he’s still there.

Suhr said at the time he worked for Hughes Brothers, running the credit union there, and knew Hafemeister because both were referees.

Hafemeister invited Suhr to join the business as a partner.

“It was a great undertaking,” he said, as he, his wife Barb and their five children lived in Hughes Brothers housing at the time.

“It was pretty tough to give up the housing and steady income and to borrow money nobody wanted to loan us, but I was real ambitious,” Suhr said.

He said the decision to go into insurance was based on the potential of the business.

“Hughes Brothers was really good to my family and myself. I still appreciate what they did for us,” Suhr said.

He said to raise the funds needed to buy into the business he went to relatives and friends.

“One of the reasons he jumped into the business is that he wanted to be able to send the kids to college,” Barb Suhr said.

“It was hard to know how we were going to make some of those early payments,” Don Suhr said.

At the time the business was in the building at 117 North 6th Street and in 1964 Robert and Mildred Imig joined as partners in the business and the name was changed to Hafemeister, Suhr and Imig.

The business moved to its current building in 1968.

In 1975 Suhr and Imig bought out Hafemeister’s ownership in the business and Barb started working in the office too.

Don Suhr said in 1984 his son Mark came to work there in 1984.

In 1987 the Suhrs bought out Imig’s ownership in the business and in 1988 their daughter Diane joined.

Suhr said they built an addition in 1995 to make the building the size it is now and changed the name to Suhr and Lichty.

“It’s been rewarding for me. We have great customers,” he said.

Suhr said crop insurance has been an important piece in helping their business grow, something they have been doing since 1983.

Being a people person, he said a lot of the business has come pretty naturally to him and he has augmented that through involvement in various state and national insurance-related organizations.

“As a company we see the benefit of being involved,” Suhr said. “We’re not afraid to give our time and talents for the betterment of the insurance industry.”

That goes beyond the business to support for the community as well.

“We’ve tried to really support the community. We’ve grown with the community,” Suhr said.

He said one of the most rewarding things has been the opportunity to work as a family since two of his children joined the business.

Suhr said there will be an open house to acknowledge his 50th year in business on April 13.