MICHELLE BONNER: My name is Michelle Bonner.
SHARRON LARSEN: My name is Sharron Larsen; that's my daughter.
MICHELLE BONNER: I think you've had most people in this valley insured or have them insured. I can't think of a a store that we've gone into or anything where you don't see someone that you know or that knows you.
SHARRON LARSEN: Yep, I was in the grocery store on Saturday and this guy came up he was in one of those go-karts. He said, "Oh there's my insurance agent." He said, "I didn't have a car right now but I — soon as I get my car I'll be back and let you insure it for me."
MICHELLE BONNER: Can you tell me like how you got into being an insurance agent? When did that all start?
SHARRON LARSEN: Well, like I said, it's been 50 years ago and I worked for this gentleman and this other guy up the street there was an agent. He said, "You need to get an insurance licensing and get your own business going." So we went to Salt Lake and I took my exam and I passed the first time. And that was the start of it.
MICHELLE BONNER: You told me something about your license. What's your insurance license number?
SHARRON LARSEN: 262.
MICHELLE BONNER: And if I were to go get an insurance license today my number would be like —
SHARRON LARSEN: There's six to eight digits now to be an insurance agent.
MICHELLE BONNER: So it was kind of early days.
SHARRON LARSEN: I loved every minute of it
MICHELLE BONNER: Yeah. You wouldn't change it, would you?
SHARRON LARSEN: Nope. I'm two weeks into retirement and I'm not sure I like it yet. Very different for me.
MICHELLE BONNER: You never thought you were going to retire did you?
SHARRON LARSEN: No. One of my customers looked at me one day and said, "Are you going to die in that chair?" So I figured Hall Mortuary would come and get me. Right there at the back door.
I look forward to going to work because there was people there that depended on me. I try to look after my customers. That's the least you can do for them that trust you with their business, their cars, their everything with you. You need to look after them.
MICHELLE BONNER: I'm remembering as a child coming into your office and you had mountains of papers on your desk — an inbox and outbox. And I could barely see you there. So when you first started writing insurance you were actually writing insurance! And you've had customers that have been with you the entire 50 years.
SHARRON LARSEN: Pretty much yeah. My farmers especially. I had a lot of farm business.
MICHELLE BONNER: I remember as a kid driving around with you to go take photographs at the farms with the Polaroid camera and the picture would come out at the bottom. So that was on weekends. You we were always working, right?
SHARRON LARSEN: Well, the insurance companies always want a picture of what they were insuring and the condition of what they were insuring. And you know if it didn't look up to them then they would turn it down, not let you insure it.
MICHELLE BONNER: So that's why you had to have those. So just thinking about going out to see those farms reminds me of again joining you as a kid to go to Salt Lake City to the fancy Hilton Hotel and it was for —
SHARRON LARSEN: National Farmer's Union Convention.
MICHELLE BONNER: Yeah, and as a kid what I'm remembering is a sea of cowboy hats.
SHARRON LARSEN: Yep.
MICHELLE BONNER: And then one really well-dressed lady walking down there in her high heels. What was it like being one of the few working women in that industry at the time?
SHARRON LARSEN: It was a challenge. They didn't like to accept women in that day and age. We certainly have had to fight our way to the top. You just didn't belong because that was a man's business, and they just figured that we needed to stay home and take care of the babies and change the diapers.
MICHELLE BONNER: And you did that too though, didn't you?
SHARRON LARSEN: Yes, I did.
MICHELLE BONNER: We're recording this conversation just one day after Mother's Day to acknowledge you and to say thank you on behalf of all of us as your kids and your customers — every person you've helped. You know, thanks for looking out for everyone with the ferocity that you have over all these years.
