Harleys, grandchildren and gardening: The perfect mix for Smith & Eddy’s Dawn Green.

Dawn Green

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

SCOTTVILLE — Dawn Green has seen a lot of changes at Smith & Eddy Insurance since she started working there over 25 years ago. She’s also seen a lot of America too. Dawn is an agent and office manager at the Scottville office. She also handles the agency’s accounting. When she’s not working, she’s gardening and riding her motorcycle.

“I love my job,” Dawn says. “I enjoy the people I work with and the customers I service. I am a property and casualty agent, the human resources person and I do all the accounting for the agency along with payroll. I wear many hats and my job is never boring — maybe stressful sometimes — but not boring.

“When I first started working here, we had one office in downtown Scottville and an Allstate Insurance booth in the Sears store in Ludington. Over the years, Bob Smith purchased other agencies and started offices in Ludington and Manistee. Smith & Eddy is no longer a small little insurance company but it’s a company committed to serving the people of this area with quality.”

Dawn and her husband of 29 years, Richard, own a 2007 Harley Davison touring motorcycle.

“We have been on many trips together since 2007,” she says. “We have been to all of the states west of the Mississippi River except for Alaska and Louisiana.  We have been to the New England states and some southern states. I think there are only 10 states we haven’t been to.

“We have been over the Mackinac Bridge and went across Lake Michigan on the Badger. We usually go for two weeks in the summer. When we take our trips I enjoy the ride and the beautiful sceneries. I take lots of photos from the back of the motorcycle.  I love old bridges, lighthouses, mountain scenes and waterfalls. To travel on a motorcycle is so much better than in a car.  You see things so much better on the open road. There is no cover from the weather, you take it as it comes. To me it is an adventure and the mystery of what you will see around the next corner.”

Back at home, Dawn enjoys gardening.

“I have many flower beds and every spring I plant my flowers and make hanging flower baskets,” she says. “We use to have a big vegetable garden, where we grew corn, potatoes, green beans, radishes, carrots, watermelon, lettuce, onions, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes.  When all of our children were living at home we did a lot of canning with all the fresh vegetables from the garden.  We stopped having a vegetable garden because the deer and rabbits would destroy it.  I miss the big garden.”

Dawn and Richard raised seven children (six boys and one girl) at their Logan Township home. Those children have blessed them with nine grandchildren, including a set of triplets.

“Most of the time I see my grandchildren in the summer months and sometimes during the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays. When I do see them I spoil them like all grandparents do.  We do lots of fun things when they are here—swimming, going to the park and fishing.  We have a bon fire down by our pond and make s’mores or roast hotdogs and have a picnic.”

Dawn, a graduate of Manistee Catholic Central High School and West Shore Community College, is also a member of the Scottville Optimist Club and enjoys life working in Scottville.

“Scottville is a nice small town, you get to know everyone. There are events like rubber ducky race, the Clown Band, Harvest Festival and many other small town events.  I try to get involved but the last couple of years I have been taking care of my mother who has cancer.  I am an Optimist member but have not been involved with that very much due to my mother health.  I have helped with the rubber ducky race for the past 2 years, selling tickets and getting the ducky’s ready to go in the drop box over the river.”

For more information on Smith & Eddy: www.smith-eddy.com; Scottville (231-757-4743); Ludington (231-845-1481); Manistee (231-723-3500).