By Brooke Foster 

Eighteen.

That’s how old Alfa Insurance® District Manager Charles Morrison was when he learned the value of life insurance. 

“It’s made such an impact on my life and is the reason I am in the insurance business today,” said Morrison, who lives in Athens.  

Shortly after Morrison signed a two-year baseball scholarship with Wallace State Community College (WSCC) in 1996, his father, C.L. Morrison Jr., was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He died just six days before Morrison’s high school graduation. 

“After that, I had to grow up quite a bit,” Morrison said. “I remember thinking, ‘What happens next?’” 

Fortunately, his father had a life insurance policy that allowed Morrison to hang up his cleats at WSCC and graduate from the University of Alabama at Huntsville debt-free.

That experience proved life insurance is the most important coverage customers can purchase, Morrison said. Policies can be life-changing and offer peace of mind, financial security and protection for the future, he added.

“To me, the most important thing to know about life insurance is what it provides,” Morrison said. “I credit my parents’ good foresight in planning to make sure they had a life insurance policy in place that would take care of the family if something happened to them. It afforded me the opportunity to complete college without worrying about expenses and allowed my mother to maintain a lifestyle she was used to.”

Morrison graduated college in August 2000 and began his career with Alfa the next month, working as an agent before becoming a district manager in 2009.

Since his first day on the job, Morrison has prioritized helping customers like Becky Schrimsher understand the value of life insurance.

Schrimsher said she looked at life insurance as an unnecessary investment when she first became an Alfa customer nearly 20 years ago. In 2008, her perspective changed when her husband, Phillip Ashburn, passed away at the age of 30. Schrimsher was left with two sons, 6-year-old Payton and 3-year-old Eli — and a life insurance policy, thanks to Morrison’s guidance.

“I was scared of how we were going to make anything work financially,” Schrimsher said. “I wasn’t working at the time, and we had two small children. After Phillip’s passing, I received a phone call from Charles, who told me Phillip still had a policy in force that was going to pay out and help take care of us.” 

She said the policy was a blessing and helped ground the family during tumultuous times. 

“I didn’t have to rely on other people or worry about scrambling to figure out how we were going to make ends meet,” she said.

Schrimsher’s story, and others like it, fuel Morrison’s work.

“It’s my ‘why,’” he said. “I know how much life insurance impacted my life, and I’m passionate about helping make a difference in the lives of others by finding an Alfa life insurance policy that works for their family.”

It’s never too early to talk about life insurance. Get the conversation started with a local Alfa Insurance agent today. Learn more at AlfaInsurance.com.