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History
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WHO and HOW did this club get
off the ground?
To answer "WHO" I will have to admit to being the guilty one
and as to "HOW", the truth of the matter is, that it was a
long hard struggle.
Being Irish, stubborn and enjoying a challenge, I simply
felt I had to find the formula of organizing an Insurance
Women's Club and nothing was going to stop me as I had been
searching for too long for information in how to communicate
with gals in other insurance offices.
To digress a second, I want to mention that back a year or
two prior to 1962, I decided to help my stepfather, who had
started his own insurance agency. (I might inject in here,
that he started the hard way by knocking on doors and being
a door-to-door salesman.)
Eventually he worked up enough business to warrant a little
help from me who, as I might add, knew nothing about
insurance or general office work. You could say I was just
plain dumb - but not for long!
With determination and enjoying being out in the business
world, I began to teach myself how to cope with the
insurance business but as time went on, I fully realized
that there was a lot to learn.
By this time I was getting hungry for insurance education
but did not know where to turn for it. Finally one of
our special agents helped me locate a gal, Mrs. Lillian
Root, who happened to be President of the New Haven
Insurance Women's Association.
Up until this time, I never realized there was such a club
in or around the
Danbury area or that there were other clubs in existence
near us.
I immediately started to correspond with Lillian and with
the information and the encouragement she furnished me, plus
the addresses she mailed to me of the State Director and the
National President, it gave me the incentive to get the ball
rolling.
I wrote to the State Director and the National President
explaining what I was trying to do and I also went through
the yellow pages of our local telephone book and started
writing to all the insurance offices I could find.
In my letter I simply stated that I was trying to start an
Insurance Women's Club and also mentioned some of the
advantages to belonging to such a group.
Within a few days, I had received enough answers to set a
date to hold a
dinner meeting at one of our local restaurants.
The meeting was held on December 4th, 1962 at what was then
known as "The Lobster Box' on Federal Road, Danbury.
At this dinner meeting, yours truly was installed as
President by the State Organization Chairman, Miss Margaret
Hanily of Hartford, CT along with a full slate of officers.
The officers installed at that time were: Vi Olden Davis,
VP - Ruth Blodgett, Treasurer - Mary Lambert, Recording
Secretary and Esther Meggison, Corresponding Secretary.
It was one of the proud moments of my life.
We were also fortunate to have Mrs. Lillian Root, Past
President of the New Haven Association, which was our
sponsoring club and Mrs. Kay Spiers of the Southern
Connecticut Club as our co-sponsors.
There were also quite a few other guests from New Haven,
Hartford and Southern Connecticut.
Following our installation, Mrs. Lillian Root presented me
with a gavel as a gift from the New Haven Association.
It was quite an exciting evening for me in particular
because it had only been a short time that I had been
corresponding with these wonderful people and here they all
were in person giving me the encouragement to carry on and
to help open avenues of communication, not only among our
local insurance gals but Nationally as well.
This also made me realize that through this Association we
would eventually be constructing educational programs, which
was what I and many of the other women in the insurance
industry were looking for.
Another exciting factor was to know that we would soon be a
National
affiliated club.
The weekend of March 29, 30, 31 1963 six of us attended the
18th Annual Region I Conference in Portland, Maine. The six
were: Ruth Blodgett, Mary Lambert, Helen Tomasak, Bernice
Nash Merrick and Vi Olsen Davis and, of course, yours
truly. It was a memorable weekend.
As President of the Insurance Women of Greater Danbury, I
was presented our Charter by the National President, Mrs.
Eileen Cleary and our Region I Organization Chairman, Mrs.
Rose Guerri.
Officially, we are now an "Association" - no longer known as
a "Club".
Now to complete the background on the organizing of such a
great Association. I would like to explain what the
triangle symbol "FELLOWSHIP", "LOYALTY" AND "EDUCATION"
has meant to me.
Through "FELLOWSHIP" I personally have cultivated many
wonderful and close friends, not only locally but also state
wide.
Through "LOYALTY" there is no doubt in my mind about the
meaning of this word. All my Charter Members have been very
loyal by keeping the faith and helping to continue the
growth of the Insurance Women of Greater Danbury.
Through "EDUCATION" this to me has been the foundation of
what our club was built on and it certainly helped to expand
and educate my thinking along the lines of insurance enough
to give me the confidence to become licensed in ALL lines of
insurance.
It also gave the members the privilege to participate in
the extensive educational programs furnished not only by our
own local association, but through the National Association
of Insurance Women as well.
I will end by quoting a few words from the last paragraph of
our collect and it is to just simply say: "MAY WE GRANT,
THAT THROUGH THIS ORGANIZATION WE BECOME CLOSER IN
FRIENDSHIP AND UNDERSTANDING" and as I previously mentioned,
our primary effort is EDUCATION.
Mrs. Mary K Gigilotti, 1st President
The Insurance Women of Greater Danbury
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Insurance Women of Greater Danbury
