Winton-Ireland, Strom and Green: Over 100 years in insurance

BY CHRISTOPHER CORREA Turlock Journal

How do you turn a job as a bank cashier into a successful insurance agency that would span over a century? Look no further than Gordon H. Winton, the founder of Winton-Ireland, Strom and Green Insurance Agency.

WIS&G was founded by Winton in 1913 while he was an employee of the First Bank of Livingston. Winton was compelled to open his own insurance agency after experiencing the lack of services in the area, especially in a community heavily reliant on agriculture.

Winton would wind up focusing on the insurance business full-time in 1924, and 30 years later, would see Winton Insurance grow stronger than ever when his son, Keith, joined the business after returning from World War II. In 1954, they formed a partnership and changed the name to Winton Insurance Agency. Things would only get bigger when Mike Ireland joined the company and helped Winton Insurance purchase F. W. Andrew Insurance Agency in 1973 and opened a second office in Turlock.

Ten years later, Keith Winton would pass, but the legacy he left behind at the time of his death was a 650% business increase since 1944.

Strom and Green Insurance was also seeing success in Turlock. The agency was founded by Dewey W. Green in 1964 after he purchased a small book of business from Preferred Risk Mutual.

Like Winton Insurance, the business expanded quickly when Green purchased another book of business from Ed Backman in 1967 and the Fred Caulkins Agency in 1970.

Flash forward to 1988, the two agencies decided to merge to form the now familiar Winton-Ireland, Strom and Green Insurance Agency name.

WIS&G currently offers commercial and personal insurance services, includ- ing risk mitigation and compliance services as well as home, renters, car, boat, pet, flood and earthquake insurance. In Livingston, WIS&G can be found at 503 Main St., the same address that Gordon H. Winton opened his practice at almost 110 years ago. In Turlock, WIS&G is at 627 E. Canal Dr. with another office in Modesto at 1100 14th St. Suite. C.