Current Year's Nominees
Suzanne Gilbert
Owner/Agent
Gilbert Insurance Agency/Tecumseh Tag Agency
Please tell us about your organization's products & services.
"Gilbert Insurance Agency is a full service independent insurance agency with numerous markets to provide auto, home, farm, watercraft, life and commercial insurance. We are an affiliate with American Farmers and Ranchers Company and eleven other nationally recognized insurance companies. Tecumseh Tag Agency is a full service operation, providing tags, driver’s license, REAL ID, voter registration, notary, faxes and copies. We believe in community service. I also own and operate Crossing Hearts Ranch a venue for weddings and meetings. Each year we have hosted the December meeting for the Tecumseh Chamber of Commerce to have their annual Christmas gathering for the membership for the past 10 years. I co-own with my husband Gilbert Cattle Company where we run around 200 head of registered limousin and crossbred cattle."
Please tell the membership a bit about you. Share your background, interests, hobbies, and other fun information.
"I was for many years a Special Education teacher before moving into my business career. I think my education background has helped me in every aspect of my career in my current businesses. I believe in my heart it matters every day how you make someone feel and you never know at the end of the day how you might touch someone’s life. I helped create the Tecumseh Family Thanksgiving Dinner which has been feeding my community for the past 16 years. I have been volunteering in the community for over 32 years and many hours with the Pottawatomie County Free Fair and Chairperson of the Pottawatomie County Junior Livestock Show that keeps me involved with the young people.
I sit on the Oklahoma FFA Foundation Board of Directors and also the Seminole State College Foundation Board of Trustiees. My three grandchildren, Taycie, Legend and Bryar are the fun times I really get to have. I love hanging out with them showing cattle, riding horses, at their baseball and basketball games. When I’m not doing these things you can find me feeding and checking cattle or helping to mend fences at Gilbert Cattle Company. I always try to lead by example."
Why do you believe you have been chosen for this award?
"It is such an honor to even be considered for this award. I believe that I live and work in a wonderful community that I truly love being a part of. I believe in giving back and serving others and my businesses are one of the ways I can do this. My motto, I try to live by daily is by Maya Angelou, “People will forget what you say & do, but they will never forget how you make them feel.” Paying it forward is something I always live by because growing up someone was always helping me!"
