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Trask Insurance reaches 75-year milestone

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — Trask Insurance has reached the three-fourths of a century milestone, marking 75 years in business in 2013. Originally opened by the late Claude Trask on October 27, 1938, today Trask Insurance is operated by his son Fred Trask who joined the business in 1974. The business’ five employees are all natives of the area, graduates of either Penquis Valley High School or the Milo High School, including Trask’s son Brian who makes three generations to have worked for Trask Insurance.

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Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    THREE-FOURTHS OF A CENTURY — For 75 years Trask Insurance has been a mainstay in Milo, and recently the business moved its operations to the west side of its 3 Main Street location to provide a more open and brighter space for customers and employees. The facility has housed the Milo Farmers Union and several hotels over its history dating back to the 1800s, and has survived a fire that destroyed the third floor as well as the flood of 1987. Today Trask Insurance has evolved with the changes in technology, such as updating the business website (www.traskagency.com) to better suit customers’ needs.

    Trask Insurance began when Claude Trask purchased the Howard Howatt Insurance Agency of LaGrange, and moved operations to his First Street home in Derby with the help of his wife Dorothy. Trask purchased the John MacDonald Insurance Agency in LaGrange in 1941, and relocated the business to Park Street in Milo.

    Trask bought the Hodgman Agency of Brownville Jct. in 1952, and purchased the Milo Farmers Union Building on Main Street in 1967 which today continues to house Trask Insurance. His son Fred came aboard in 1974, after graduating from Husson College — as did his father — and having worked in personnel at Guilford of Maine, Simplex Wire and Cable in North Berwick and the Milo Community Hospital.

    Recently Trask Insurance shifted its operations from one side of the old Milo Farmers Union Building, which was constructed during the 19th century and has also served as the Oriental House and the Milo House, to the other. “We have a more open area for customers who come in,” Trask said about the move to the west side of the building, which over the course of its history has survived a fire which took off the third floor as well as the flood of 1987. “It has made for a more pleasant environment for staff and hopefully for customers,” he said.

    Trask explained that some windows were put back in and an original fireplace was exposed again as part of the process to prepare the new office space. Trask said the square footage is the same as the previous space but “I tried to get the ceiling up as high as I could” to add to the more open feel. “It’s all lighter than being on the other side and we have a nice view of Main Street.”

    “We have decorated it with our memorabilia,” Trask said about items on display including those crafted by his mother and a boat paddle made by Trask’s great-grandfather who was a guide in the Moosehead Lake area. He said other items decorating the office include a painting by local artist Ken Davis, an old thread box — which serves as the cash box, wooden boxes that were used to ship coffee to the Milo Farmers Union, a glass display case that was at Rite-Aid and a JSI bench that was won at the Three Rivers Kiwanis annual auction.

    Trask Insurance continues to offer a number of different types of personal and commercial insurance, such as homeowners, life, health, automobile, seasonal properties, ATV, snowmobiles, classic automobiles, worker’s comp and business property, liability and auto.

    Trask mentioned the impact of technology as the biggest change he has seen to the insurance industry. “When I started all you had was one piece of paper with your name and address and what you wanted for insurance,” he said. “Now there are so many factors that go into it that we never had,” he added about other criteria for insurance.

    To keep up with changes Trask said plans are being made to update the business website, www.traskagency.com, to make the site “more functional than anything we have had in the past.” He said the Professional Insurance Agency (PIA) site will include “a lot of educational things on there for the general public to find out about insurance” and customers will be able to make payments through the website if they choose.

    “We joined the Webber Insurance Group which is a group of independent agents in Maine,” Trask said, adding that Kimball Insurance in Guilford is also a part of the Webber Insurance Group. He said group members are able to pool their resources, which can benefit both the companies and their customers.

    “We always want to look for new markets,” Trask said about one reason the business joined the Webber Insurance Group. He said Trask Insurance employees also pick up knowledge when talking with other Maine insurance companies about their experiences working in the industry.

    Trask said the majority of the employees Trask Insurance has had over the decades have grown up in the area and currently, “Every one of us went to high school here.” He added, “We are an employer in town and hire products of the school system.”

    In addition to Fred Trask and Brian Trask, a personal lines agent who is the most recent addition to the staff, the employees include commercial lines agent Kim Robinson, personal lines agent Julie Andrews and bookkeeper Lorrie Gerrish.

    Robinson began working summers at Trask Insurance when she was a student at Husson College, and now she has been with the agency for over 25 years. Andrews has been with Trask Insurance since 1996, and Trask said Andrews is the second generation of her family to work in the industry as her father was with New York Life for many years.

    Trask said when Gerrish was in high school she came to Trask Insurance to learn bookkeeping “and she ended up working here,” he said, as she works part time taking care of the accounting needs of the agency.

    Trask Insurance gives back to the community, taking part in area events including parades — such as the procession for the Hometown Holidays event in Milo, sponsoring activities at local schools and being involved in economic development projects in the community. Trask said Trask Insurance is one of the oldest businesses in town and “I don’t know any business like ours on Main Street that is older.”

    The official 75th anniversary date will be Oct. 27, and Trask Insurance is planning to celebrate the occasion — details will be announced later in the year.

    Trask Insurance is located at 3 Main Street in Milo. For more information please call 943-7746 or 1-800-943-7403 or go to www.traskagency.com.

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