Ankeny, Iowa
Modern Woodmen representative since 1994

Nov. 12, 2002, Modern Woodmen representative Dennis Thevenot, Ankeny, Iowa, received a call from a client.

“I just got back from seeing my new granddaughter,” the proud woman beamed into the phone. She wanted her Modern Woodmen representative’s help purchasing life insurance for the baby, just as she had done for each of her other grandchildren.

“I’m actually going to be leaving tomorrow to visit my new grandson, but I’m available tonight,” Dennis offered. So that night he went to his client’s house, wrote a junior life application for the new baby and sent it to the home office.

A tragic turn of events
When he got back to his office less than a week later, he had a phone message from the woman. “I have tragic news,” she said. “My granddaughter passed away.”

It was an undetectable heart defect. Nothing in the baby’s medical records showed she had any problems. The underwriting process concluded she would have been insurable the day the application was written, so the death benefit was paid.

“An old-timer once told me there are two ways to spell life insurance,” Dennis recalls. “He preferred the second way.” According to the man, the second way to spell life insurance is L-O-V-E, because wherever there’s love in a family there will be life insurance.

“That kind of hit home for me,” says Dennis. “I’ve always believed life insurance is an expression of love for a family. You don’t want those you love to be put in an adverse situation if something should happen.”

The certificate he sold on that November day was the only life insurance the child had. It paid for her burial and emergency expenses. Dennis knows life insurance can’t take away the emotional burden of losing a child. But he’s glad he could help lift the financial burden from her devastated young parents.