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Wilsons to pursue other interests after decades in business together
Wilsons
Varnie (from left), Priscilla, Rachel and Ellis Wilson spent part of their last day on the job Thursday reminiscing about their many years together as family members and business owners. - photo by Mark Lastinger/staff
We are going to miss the people. That will be the biggest thing for me.
Varnie Wilson

 SPRINGFIELD — The business ties that held Varnie, Priscilla, Ellis and Rachel Wilson together for five decades never came close to unraveling. The secret to their unity was their Silent Partner, they said.

“All of us love the Lord,” 85-year-old Varnie said. “I really believe that was the biggest thing. Putting God first was the key.

“I think we all prayed to Him everyday and studied our Bible.”

The Wilsons officially retired from Wilson Insurance Agency on Thursday, turning the operation they started 44 years ago at 832 S. Laurel St. over to younger family members.

“This happened sort of abruptly,” Ellis said with customers all around him. “It hasn’t been so long ago that we talked about it — just a couple months, I guess. We voted on it and I got beat three to one, so I’ve got to retire, too.

“I wanted to keep going.”

“We never really voted,” Varnie interjected.

“We just told him we were ready to retire,” Rachel, 83, explained.

Rachel, Varnie’s sister, is married to Ellis. Priscilla, 80, is Varnie’s wife.

“Everybody thinks Ellis and I are brothers but we are the same age,” Varnie said. “We are not twins.”

“I’m from a different set of Wilsons,” Ellis said.

“That’s the amazing part about this,” Priscilla said. “It’s not just that we are old, but that we are family. Unless somebody can bring up a time, we’ve never had a disagreement.”

Ellis and Varnie recalled one contentious period in the early 1970s when they operated Wilson’s Bi-Rite, a grocery store.

“We didn’t hold a grudge and got over it right away,” Varnie said.

Ellis and Varnie still have one common business interest. They own a small herd of beef cows.

“That’s a full-time job by itself, especially when you get to be 85,” Varnie said.

“I’m glad I’m getting out of some of that, too,” Ellis added.

Ellis worked at Union Bag before entering the grocery business. Varnie worked at C&S Bank in its insurance department before becoming his business partner.

Mingledorff’s, a general merchandise store, was the  Wilsons’ first joint business venture. Priscilla and Rachel ran it.

“I never had a sister but Priscilla has always been like one to me,” Rachel said.

“They’d go to Atlanta together and buy stuff, and sell it in Mingledorff’s,” Ellis said. “They would buy material and all kind of stuff.”

“We sold it to take care of some of the bills we had here (at the insurance agency),” Ellis said.

The Wilsons admitted that the pictures for their businesses weren’t always rosy. They encountered plenty of thorny situations, especially when large chain stores in Rincon started to squeeze the profits out of Wilson’s Bi-Rite.

“The grocery store was a hard road,” Ellis said.

“It was hard work and hard times,” Varnie added. “You can’t compete with the big guy. There is no way.

“I’m afraid they are going to take over insurance on down the road.”

Customer service was a pillar of each Wilson enterprise. They treated their customers as friends.

“We’ve had people tell us sincerely that they are going to miss us,” Ellis said. “There have been some that boo-hooed when we told them we are retiring.”

The Wilsons are the only insurance agents many of their customers have ever known.

“It wasn’t the insurance that made them cry. It was the relationships,” Priscilla said.

The Wilsons expect to feel a sense of loss, too.

“It’s going to be different,” Varnie said. “We are going to miss the people. That’ll be the biggest thing for me.

“Relationships are what built this business. It’s nothing else. People could go somewhere else to get cheaper insurance.”

“The people trust us,” Rachel said.

“We’ve had people come in here with papers that we’d help them with that had nothing to do with insurance,” Ellis added.

Trevor Wilson, Varnie and Priscilla’s son and an insurance agent in his own right in Rincon, intends to maintain Wilson Insurance Agency’s legacy of service.

“My business is a lot different than theirs,” Trevor said. “I don’t have nearly as many walk-ins as they have so I don’t have the relationships that they have. It’s neat to see that aspect of it and how the people really like them.”

The outgoing Wilsons expressed confidence in Trevor and the agency’s other new standard bearers.

“I’m sure our clientele will be happy,” Ellis said.

Ellis said his wife and partners will be available if needed.

“We might come in and help them a little bit but that will be all,” he said. “Technically, we are out of it.”

The Wilsons, who spent the last few months rotating weeks at work, said they don’t have any special plans for their new free time.

“We’d just like to do something different other than coming to work,” Priscilla said.

“We’ll work around the house, take care of the farm, the cows and plant a garden,” Varnie said. 

Even though the Wilsons will no longer be going to work together, they aren’t going their separate ways. They intend to dine, play card games and attend sporting events together just like they have since their children were young.

“If the four of us get together and go somewhere, it’s still a lot of fun,” Ellis said.

“We’ve always found something to laugh about,” Priscilla said. “We have been so blessed.”