Retired insurance agent Marvin Gibson reflects on 43 years in insurance business in Albany

ALBANY — While he didn’t wear a cape or flashy costume or drive a super hero’s car to the scenes of disasters, Marvin Gibson quietly came to the rescue of countless individuals who were in distress over more than four decades.

The attire of an insurance agent is a bit more conservative than that of Batman or the Green Lantern, but in reflecting on his time with Allstate, Gibson said that his work made a difference to people who were having some of the worst days of their lives.

Over his long career, 10 years spent in company offices and 33 years as an independent agent, some of the biggest events occurred over the last decade. Baker, who retired this week, was born in Baker County and attended Dougherty County schools until the family moved to Amarillo, Texas, with his Air Force stepfather in 1960 and three years later to Italy.

Over his last seven years, tragedies struck the region in the form of tornadoes in 2017, Hurricane Michael in 2018 and the arrival of COVID-19 in 2019.

“I’ve lost over 80 people in my business to COVID, some of them I had been involved with for 30 or 40 years,” he said. “That affects you … people that would call you once or twice a month.

“We lost so many people in a short period of time. They were gone in a flash. Sometimes I see the faces at night. Those were good, solid people we lost.”

Another incident that hit him particularly hard was a 31-year-old father who died in a December 2022 traffic accident.

“I knew at that point it was time to think about retiring,” he said. “It was time to come home.”

Hurricane Michael’s devastation in 2018 was another major event in the community.

“If anybody told me on Oct. 9 that a hurricane was going to hit Albany, I would have said they were crazy,” he said. “I estimate that 90% of Albany was affected in 2018. An actual hurricane came in from the Gulf (of Mexico) and hit Albany.”

Allstate has its own weather-monitoring system and prepositions personnel close to the area of impending natural disasters.

“We take care of our customers,” he said. “If anybody’s watched, the first people on the ground are going to be from Allstate. We (use) satellites and drones. We can go out and assess the damage in a tenth of the time it used to take. It’s like a well-organized football game. Every play is pre-planned. Every claim that deserves to be paid, we’re going to pay it.”

During his time as a military kid, Gibson got to travel extensively in Europe. He also made trips to Africa and the Pacific Ocean that took him as far east as Cairo, Egypt, and Hawaii.

After returning to Albany in 1966 to help care for an ailing grandmother, Gibson pursued accounting at what is now Albany Technical College and started his career in retail.

“I ended up at Sears Roebuck,” he said. “I was the first African American salesman hired at Sears in Albany. I worked for Sears for about seven years until I transferred to Allstate. Sears owned Allstate at one time. They were spun off from Sears and became independent.”

Gibson went to work with Allstate on Dec. 31, 1979, and estimated he has worked with thousands and thousands of customers during his long career in the insurance field. He had planned to move to Atlanta at one point, but other than spending two years in Florida while working with Sears, he remained in Albany to help out his father and mother when they were in their declining years, a decision he said he does not regret.

“All of my life I’ve wanted to help people,” he said. “I enjoy serving more than anything. It’s a complex business; it’s a challenging business. We’re like a family, and family looks after each other. They allowed me to do my job. I wouldn’t have worked there for 43 years if I didn’t enjoy it. We have some very good people in southwest Georgia.”

Claims today can easily hit $1 million for a house and autos damaged by a big storm, and business claims can hit half a billion or a billion dollars, Gibson said. The price of materials and equipment have increased over the years.

It’s been said that there are no atheists in foxholes, and it may be more true that there are no climate-change deniers in the insurance business.

“With global warming and rising seas, it’s going to be a challenge in the very near future,” Gibson said. “Claims 20 years ago don’t compare to claims today. If it (hurricane hitting Albany) happened once, it will happen again.”

The recent retiree thanked Allstate and his loyal customers for his career. Having stepped off the business stage, he has a full agenda. Being an avid fisherman and hunter of deer and wild hogs, Gibson said he will have plenty to do.

“My real hobby, believe it or not, is I have two horses and love to ride,” he said. “I have something to do all the time. I’m looking forward to it.”

He said he also hopes to revisit some of the places in Europe and Africa he visited while younger, this time with wife Valerie McKendrick-Gibson.

“I’m just a country bumpkin who’s been to a few places,” he said. “There’s quite a few places I was able to see (that) I want my wife to see. She retired from the school system after 45 years.”

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