By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – It wasn’t too much of a shocker for Ginger Parvelle’s family to see her interest in nursing as she graduated from high school in Jefferson Parish.
“I had a number of family members who were nurses,” Parvelle said. “I saw what they did for a living and a lot of it seemed interesting—like something I would want to do.”
Parvelle never did become a nurse. She works today for Grant Gravois in his State Farm insurance agency in Slidell, nearing 20 years in the business as a licensed property & casualty, life and health insurance agent.
But even though Parvelle never ended up working in the health care field, it wasn’t for lack of trying.
For that matter, in 2007 after her children were getting older, she was still intent on becoming a nurse and started college while she was working for the Slidell State Farm agency that was owned and operated by Curtis Martin.
“I never gave up on the idea of becoming a nurse and Curtis let me start college classes while still working here,” she recalled.
But when Gravois took over the agency in 2009, following the death of Martin, he saw something in Parvelle that he thought was worth pursuing.
“Ginger is so good handling insurance, particularly the way she deals with our clients. She is so knowledgeable about insurance and has the ability to educate people on their coverage. That’s special, and she is very good at it,” he said.
Consequently, Gravois had a discussion with Parvelle one day about whether a nursing career was the best thing for her, compared to sticking with the insurance business.
“Grant showed me the benefits of staying with insurance, and even though I was in my last year of college to become a nurse, I thought my future was going to be better to stay in this business,” Parvelle said. “I saw this as a great opportunity and the more I thought about the two careers, I decided insurance was really the best thing.”
Ironically, Gravois pointed out, the insurance business and nursing have similar aspects to their professions.
“In this business, we help people in their greatest time of need—after a tragedy or crisis situation, when you really need someone to help you through a difficult time,” Gravois said. “And certainly nursing is the same. Both of us help people in emotional times—occasionally dealing with death or when there are serious injuries.”
After Parvelle moved to the North Shore in the ninth grade, she got married after graduating from Covington High and was living in Lacombe, which led to her first job with the Curtis Martin agency in Slidell.
“I started at the front desk doing normal receptionist type work, but pretty soon they had me learning more about the business, and within two years, I had gotten my property and casualty licenses,” Parvelle said.
Interestingly enough years ago, individuals who worked in the office of a licensed agent were able to write insurance without being licensed themselves. But Parvelle found the business something she enjoyed, and showed the motivation to be the best she could be.
“I studied all the books and not only got my property and casualty licenses, but then I got licensed for health and life insurance,” she said.
“From the beginning of working in this business, I always liked the interaction with the clients,” she said. “I guess it always was a little like nursing—having a chance to really help people.”
If there was any time that Parvelle may have had second thoughts about the business, it was after August, 2005 when the Martin Agency had to go through the disaster of Hurricane Katrina—certainly the most trying time for any insurance agency.
“That was a crazy time,” she said. “But we worked long days and were able to help a lot of people. That was really the time I saw how much we could help people in crisis situations, and nursing is the same.”
When the agency switched from Curtis Martin to Grant Gravois, Parvelle was obviously pleased with working for her second boss and made the decision to turn it into her lifelong career.
“This business is really about building relationships with our clients and I have done that now for many years,” she said. “People trust me and that feels good to know I can be here for them when they need me”
Parvelle is married with two children, two step-children and one grandchild.
To contact her for any insurance needs at the Grant Gravois State Farm agency in Slidell, call 985-643-4276.