Built on Solid Ground
Lillian Schad &
Mark McMillin, left, and Lillian Schad go over some of the vintage records listed in the books for Lutheran Fire and Lightning Insurance Company, which started in 1933 after five area farmers were unable to obtain insurance on their homes and livestock.
Lutheran Fire and Lightning Insurance Company
M
ark McMillin is in awe of Lillian Schad, a nonagenarian who was educated, employed, married, seen loved ones birthed and buried, and still lives on in the same Stones Prairie community in which she was born. “She is a treasure,” he said. That’s because Lillian knows nearly everyone in the area that is centered around the church and schools that comprise the heart of the small community, where the Lutheran Fire and Lightning Insurance Company was 36 | February 2022
born in 1933. The company serves Lutheran families throughout the state. “There were five area farmers that went together to form the company after they were not able to get insurance in town,” McMillin said. “Lillian’s dad, Elmer Rupp, was the first secretary and treasurer.” As to the identities of the remaining five founders, it’s in the book. “I wrote everything (about the company) down in a white book,” she said. “I loaned it out and I thought it came back to me, but I can’t find it anywhere.”
Lillian, who remembers not even being in high school, yet loved math and started helping her father in those early days of the business. “I did most of the typing and bookwork,” she said. “I learned that I loved math, and that transitioned into working the books for the company. I started keeping the books and working with daddy when I was 14.” Eventually, the records of policies and holdings transferred from huge handwritten ledger books to typed policies when Lillian was in high school.
Story by Melonie Roberts
