40-Year Employee Service Award: Pat Stuckey

All of us at OceanPoint Insurance offer our congratulations to Pat Stuckey to recognize her 40 years of service. A fantastic employee milestone!

In 1981, Pat began working at the Gustav White Insurance Agency, Bellvue Avenue, Newport, which later merged with the Packer Braman Agency. The new agency, the Braman White Insurance, was acquired by BankNewport in 1998, who then created the OceanPoint Insurance Agency. Pat was there at our genesis.

Gerry Dwyer and Peter Dunn (who would later become Pat’s boss) interviewed Pat for employment at the Gustav White Insurance Agency. At that time, she knew nothing about insurance but was ready and willing to learn. And to compound Pat’s interview anxiety, she was informed that the office had just received its very first computer and that, if hired, Pat would be using this new technology; this was trendsetting stuff in an office environment in 1981! At this point in the interview, Pat was at best unsure and at worst horrified that she would be working with a device that she had only seen before in sci-fi movies! Peter could see Pat’s insecurity and attempted to put her at ease by informing her that he could operate the computer. Phew!, this was good news indeed and put Pat at ease until Peter showed her that his computing expertise was that of playing a baseball game!

Throughout her tenure, Pat has made a positive contribution to OceanPoint’s success, starting on its lower rungs and growing into her current role of Personal Lines Account Manager.

In her 40 years with OceanPoint, Pat has witnessed an awful lot of change in the office environment. In the early days, document typos were corrected with liquid paper (whiteout), and there was one computer in the office, which was ‘not used’ for playing baseball! Decades later, each employee operated a computer. Computers networks enabled office automation, and in the new millennium, mobile devices are used for communication.

Pat has announced her plan to retire, with her last day being this Friday, July 2nd. Pat looks forward to relaxing and spending time with her family. Her OceanPoint family will certainly miss her laughter and contagious smile. We are truly thankful for our time worked with Pat and for all that she has contributed to helping our business grow. We wish her all the best!