Generations Gather Under Insurance Firm's Roof

In small-town America, family businesses are the backbone of many local economies. Hugh F. Miller Insurance Agency, in Rock Falls, Ill., is one such firm — and then some.

“We’re celebrating 40 years as an agency this year,” said Veronica Edwards, the firm’s chief operating officer and part-owner. “When my dad, Hugh, got his start, he didn’t know how he’d make the rent. Since then, we have continued to grow and had three generations active in the agency until Dad passed in 2021.

“My husband Mike and my sister Jennifer Koehler are also part-owners. Our daughter Morgan has been an active agent for 12 years. She got her start in high school coming in to help out, and after she went to college, she decided this was what she wanted to do. Another daughter, Reghan, is involved, too, handling our marketing remotely from Tennessee.” 

As involved as Veronica and her extended family are in the company, it’s interesting to consider that when she was growing up, she had no inkling she’d run the business one day. When she headed off to college, she thought she’d have a career in accounting.

“I love numbers,” Edwards said. "I see them in my head. When I went to school, it was to be a CPA, but life led me here instead. I kept the books for dad when he first opened up; I got to learn about what he was doing and learned the industry.

“Insurance has been my passion because I love to help people solve their problems, to identify their goals and put together the coverage they need to meet those goals. I try to know in my heart that I’ve done everything I can to help them accomplish that.”

Another distinctive thing about Hugh F. Miller Insurance is the fact that Edwards is one of the few women helming an agency. She doesn’t really give that much thought, though.

“Honestly, being a woman in the industry was never really an issue for me, because I never felt inferior to the men. I’ve been doing this for 38 years now. My dad was a good teacher and mentor, and with his guidance, I think I was able to gain the respect of my peers quickly. They may trusted me at first because of my dad, but as the years went on, I gained their respect in my own right.”

Throughout her career, Edwards says Grinnell Mutual has been a constant presence. “We’ve had a great relationship with Grinnell Mutual since the beginning,” she said, “and that relationship has continued to grow.”

In 2003 Edwards was first invited to join the company’s Agent Advisory Council and served continuously on the council for the next 17 years, until meetings were suspended in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Serving on the advisory council, Edwards saw that the challenges her firm faced weren’t unique. “I got to see what was going on at other agencies, and I saw that they were having some of the same troubles,” she said, “Working together with other council members and with Grinnell Mutual was a great way to find solutions.”

“It’s all about relationships, when you boil it down,” she said. “It’s people who make the difference. I don’t see myself as just working for myself; it’s the client and the carrier and me.”