Don Carlos Insurance joined NFIB 72 years ago in 1947.
The story’s been told so many times, David Don Carlos isn’t sure if it’s true, or a folklore spun to make the journey from Spain to the United States a bit easier on his ancestors. Standing in an old bank building in small town Greenfield, Iowa, David ponders the truth of a tale that 16 generations back, the head of his family was the brother to the king of Spain.
Even if David isn’t Spanish royalty, you could consider him insurance royalty in Greenfield, although he’s far too humble to accept that title. David would rather talk about his family, particularly the man who started his fourth generation small business – his image hanging prominently in the old bank lobby with a smirk on his face as if to say: “I’m still here, watching to make sure you don’t screw this up.”
David Don Carlos stands beneath an old drawing of his grandfather, Gaylord Don Carlos, who joined NFIB in 1947. At 72 years, Don Carlos Insurance is the oldest active member of NFIB in Iowa.
It’s said that Gaylord “Pooch” Don Carlos was a jokester. Pooch (no one is quite sure who made up the nickname or what exactly it means) started selling insurance alongside his four brothers and opened his own shop in 1919. David Don Carlos never knew his grandfather, he was just two years-old when he died of a heart attack, but his spirit is still alive in the old Greenfield Savings Bank he bought and converted into an insurance agency in 1952. Even though Pooch has been gone for five decades, people still walk in the lobby on the south side of the square and want to talk about him. Pooch founded his insurance agency with the simple principle that he would do whatever it took to get his customers the right insurance for the best price. He joined NFIB in 1947, four years after the non-profit was founded. Today, 72 years later, Don Carlos Insurance the oldest active NFIB member in Iowa.
Gaylord “Pooch” Don Carlos poses with a cigar in his Greenfield office.
A lot of things have changed, however, since Pooch founded the family business 100 years ago. Computers have transformed the way people shop for insurance. David says he used to meet face to face with clients and write a quote by hand after spending time figuring out what needed and wanted. Now that you can go online and get an insurance quote in minutes, David feels like there’s not as much customer loyalty anymore – although he still has clientele who have been with his family’s business for decades. Once as many as six insurance brokers with shops lining Greenfield’s square, there’s a reason Don Carlos Insurance Agency is one of just two remaining: customer service.
David Don Carlos flips through old pictures and clippings that explain the history of his family’s small business.
“Sure, you can buy car insurance in ten minutes on the internet,” said David Don Carlos. “However, there’s a lot to your policy that you can’t read online.” David gets concerned when people focus on the price of their policy because the cheapest isn’t always the best. David spends extra time making sure his customers get the right policy that covers everything they need. David’s customers know they can always call him if they have questions, and they do – including nights and weekends. David chuckles, saying that’s the price you pay when you live in a small town – everyone knows where you live. Joking aside, it’s one of the things David loves most about his small business: he wants to do good for the people in his community and goes the extra mile to make sure his customers are happy.
A young David Don Carlos (right) in 1974, before he joined the family insurance agency.
David wasn’t always so sure about small town living and the insurance industry. He moved to Denver after graduating from high school and poured concrete for a few years. It paid well, but the work was physically demanding, and David decided he didn’t want to bust his back. He packed his bags, headed north, enrolled in classes at Des Moines Area Community College and a few years later moved back to Greenfield to join the family business.
David Don Carlos appears in an ad for his family’ small business open house in 1979, four years after he moved home to join the insurance agency.
Today, David has three employees, including his son Mark. While they’re pretty sure the Don Carlos family are not descendants of Spanish royalty, they happily continue their reign as the oldest insurance agency in Greenfield and the oldest active member of NFIB in Iowa.
