Crockett Insurance Merges with Dean Insurance
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Crockett Insurance began a little after World War II in the downtown square. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s when it consolidated to become what it is today. It was then that Don Jones brought his family from the Houston area to Crockett to begin their story with the company.
Carlton Jones said it was a big change from the “big city.”
“When we first moved up here I was wondering if I needed to buy some boots!” Jones laughed. “I was in elementary school in the third grade. It was different, but we settled right in and enjoyed it.”
Jones – now proud owner of many pairs of boots – said the mission of Crockett Insurance is to provide specialized insurance solutions for the people and businesses of Houston County and points beyond.
“We live in a town and county that’s predominantly rural. We try to handle anything that comes along, whether it’s houses and cars, ranches, farms and businesses of any kind,” Jones noted. “So we’re very diverse in what we do. Our reach goes way beyond Houston County. We do life and health and we’re just a general service agency. And that’s what we pride ourselves on – being able to handle everything that comes through the door.”
When the opportunity came to merge with Dean Insurance, it was an easy decision for all parties. Jones wanted to help his friend William “Smitty” Dean be a part of the business without all the day-to-day chores involved with it.
“I’ve known ‘Smitty’ forever,” Jones said. “He’s the uncle of some friends I went to high school with. We have very similar approaches the way we do business and use many of the same insurance companies. So when he got ready to slow down a little bit, the idea was to help out. And by merging the two together, we could let him have a little more freedom to do what he wanted to do while we handle brunt of the paperwork.”
Jones said customers from Dean Insurance will find the transfer almost seamless, since the companies have so much in common and the same philosophy.
“We are going to provide the same kind of great service Dean did. We might have a few more options, because we have a few more carriers. But it’s the same kind of people, the same kind of service, the same kind of hometown attitude that we want to keep on doing,” Jones concluded.
Customers from Dean Insurance will be able to come to Crockett Insurance at 206 5th Street in Crockett for service or more information.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
