Ordinary People: Unruh enjoys serving community
Staff writer
Eileen Unruh lives to serve the community through the Insurance Center and the various church and community activities she has been involved in for years.
Born in rural Hillsboro the only child born to Arnold and Martha Jost, Eileen grew up on a farm south of Hillsboro. She attended grades 1 through 8 at Cresswell Country School, five miles south of Hillsboro — the old depot house, which is familiar to area residents.
In 1958, she graduated from Hillsboro High School and attended Tabor College for one year.
She moved to Salina and attended Brown Mackie School in Salina, graduating in 1960.
In the fall of 1960, after dating as seniors and being engaged for a year, she and John Unruh were married.
The couple moved to McPherson, where Eileen worked at the National Co-op Refinery Association (NCRA) — her first job — as an accounts payable clerk.
In June of 1961, they moved to Chicago.
"John went to do alternative service instead of fighting in the war," Eileen said.
While John worked in the maintenance department at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill., Eileen worked at the hospital in the business office. They stayed there until her husband fulfilled his two-year term.
The couple moved back to Kansas and settle in Newton. Eileen worked at Bethel Hospital for about five years as an accounts receivable clerk.
"I did the billing with a posting machine," she said smiling.
The posting machine, described by Eileen, was a large machine about the size of a desk, and all the billing was done on it.
Eileen handled both the inpatient and outpatient accounts for the hospital.
She worked until their first and only child, Lisa, was born in 1967.
The family moved to Hillsboro and lived in town until 1992, when they moved back to her family homestead south of Hillsboro.
Eileen continued working on a part-time basis at Bethel Hospital.
In 1970-72, she then worked part-time as an office manager at Ag Service for Orman Balzer and Mike Kleiber.
"The business was located in town at that time," she said.
She stayed at home for one year, and then began working in the accounting department at Tip Top Credit Union, which is now Great Plains Credit Union.
In 1979, she began work at the Insurance Center, where she has worked for 23 years.
Early on, Eileen worked for the Paul Rundstrom Estate, who owned the Insurance Center.
"Richard Nickel was working for Paul when he died in a plane crash," Eileen said.
Nickel later bought the company, and through the years Eileen's duties at the office have changed. She is a licensed agent.
"Rich (Nickel) handles mainly the business and commercial accounts, and I handle the personal and individual accounts, along with the bookkeeping duties," she said.
Eileen has seen some major changes in the insurance industry during the years. Major changes from manually doing claims and doing paperwork on the typewriter to the computer and now the Internet.
"We are an independent agency, so we choose from several (10) companies to work with. We try to match the company with what our customers need," she said, "which is a lot harder for us as the agent."
As independent agents, Eileen and Nickel are doing more of the paperwork in the office even though they have the computer. A major difference has been the computer and the fax machine.
"They have made a huge difference in the way we do things. We can get, for instance, estimates for damage requests faster and claims can be faxed immediately. Our service to the customer is faster," Eileen said.
One of the accomplishments Eileen is proud of is her being chosen in 1996 as the Outstanding Customer Service Representative of Kansas.
"That was a pretty big honor," Eileen. "That has been a highlight for me."
Eileen said she likes talking with people, and in the insurance business she gets to do that.
"Insurance is something people have to carry, and I get to work with people and help them understand coverages and support them during a claim — an area that is not really exciting for them," she said.
Eileen also likes a job where she is pretty much on her own.
"Rich (Nickel) has given me freedom and is good enough to give me the leeway to do that," she said.
Eileen has been a member of Ebenfeld Mennonite Brethren church since she was 12 years old. She has served as church treasurer for 20 plus years, has served through the years as a Sunday school teacher, youth sponsor and in the women's ministries. She and her husband serve on the foods committee.
In the community, she has served since 1990 as secretary of the Hillsboro Development board; she currently serves on the HCMC hospital board; and has served as chamber president and on Parkside Homes board of directors.
Her hobbies include traveling and reading. Her travels have included an Alaska cruise, Germany and Austria, Hawaii, California, and the Maritime Provinces.
Her husband John has worked as street superintendent for the city of Hillsboro for 25 aggregate years.
Their daughter Lisa, and her husband Glen Herbel live in Highland Ranch, Colo., where Glen owns Pagation Plus, and Lisa works for an ad agency.
