‘It’s not supposed to be about me’

Francene graves takes this mantra pretty seriously. She is loath to talk about herself, but once she agrees to talk (having the president and CEO ask doesn’t hurt), the minutes fly by in a series of stories and tart asides.

But Graves’ dry humor belies a dedication to serving others. And hard work. Graves was born in California but grew up in the Grinnell-Marshalltown area and joined Grinnell Mutual right out of high school in March 1963. Combining her 47 years as a Grinnell Mutual employee with her nine years as a volunteer and contract security guard, that’s 56 consecutive years of being part of Grinnell Mutual. 

President and CEO Jeff Menary has known and worked with Graves for years. “In the mid-80s I was trying to do some spreadsheet work on my wife’s Apple computer,” Menary remembers. “Francene heard this and secured a soon-to-be-discarded IBM for me to take home and use. 

“Then she not only loaded that monster-sized computer into my car but tutored me on how to make my spreadsheets. She has always been and still is a can-do person!”

FROM FILING TO TECH SUPPORT…

She’s held so many positions at the company she can’t name them all, but jobs have included file clerk (“There were three Phyllises, a Nancene, and a Francene in that bay… .”), policy preparation, word processing, underwriting, IT phone support, and coding. 

“Almost every year my job or title grew or changed,” Graves said. “I was very blessed.” 

As the times changed, so did Graves.  “I went from using typewriters to helping mutuals come online when everything went to computers,” Graves said. “I was the one running around fixing tech problems.”

She has always thrived on learning and improving. “I always want to know how to do better, faster, more… .”

To wit: As a policy preparer, part of the process was to initial and date each page. Graves figured out that if she only initialed the pages “F” instead of “FG,” she could save enough time to finish one more policy each day.

…TO CONTRACTOR, DO-GOODER, AND BAKER

In 2010, Grinnell Mutual disbanded the area, Grinnell InfoSystems, that Graves worked in and she retired that March. By April, she had two part-time jobs, one of which was as an on-call security guard for Grinnell Mutual.

Today, security at Grinnell Mutual is a full-time gig, but she hopes to work one less day a week. (“Tell them that if anyone’s looking for a part-time job… .”)

Because she’s got other things to do. Driving ladies around to church functions hither and yon, volunteering for SHARE Iowa and her church, baking, and cleaning a local tire place in exchange for oil changes. Plus, she also holds an unofficial title: the cookie lady — baking cookies and volunteering for the Grinnell Mutual blood drive donors’ post-donation canteen.

She’s got plenty to do. So, why is she still working?

“I love people and I love learning,” she said, shrugging.

“But this shouldn’t be about me. I don’t ever want to appear to be important. I’m just very blessed.”

Menary thinks Grinnell Mutual is the lucky one. “Francene is one of the most dedicated and positive individuals that I’ve ever met. She is truly a servant leader.” 

What’s her next career move? “I haven’t decided yet,” she said.