In a very different time and a very different world and with just a little bit of money Guarantee Trust began a long and interesting journey eighty years ago today. A thirty five year old gentleman in the midst of the Depression with unemployment above 20% decided to take great risk and start his own company. We should be thankful he did. Though this man passed away in 1981 I had the good fortune of knowing him well and know with certainty he would be most pleased and more amazed at what we have accomplished this past five years. To know this company which primarily existed to provide him a lavish lifestyle, and not much else, was a professionally managed operation not only surviving but actually thriving at age 80 would put a smile in his heart. For most of that he should be thankful to his son- our second president who spent a considerable part of his life building Guarantee Trust.

We have had three presidents throughout all these years, each of whom would claim to have made the biggest contribution to the company's success. There have been good years, very very lean years and many in between. For as long as I have known the company we have respected our agents, worked hard to conduct ourselves in a proper and honorable fashion and tried to have a little fun with our work. As would be with any company at age 80 there are many chapters and endless colorful characters and stories attached to Guarantee Trust. What is remarkable and gratifying is that we have NEVER been as financially sound nor better armed to go forward and compete in the marketplace as we are today. We are a youthful, talented organization with a bit of an earned swagger- not a typical description of an eighty year old anything.

Today, we say a silent thank you to a young man who had the strange notion to start his own company in the midst of the worst financial crisis in our nation's history. And trust me in knowing he would have never, ever, thought that company would be alive in 2016- and yet!!