The Shadow
Inside Gerald E. Franson Insurance Agency’s building at its new location across the street from the U.S. Post Office in Covington, trophy cases filled with autographed baseballs, footballs, and at least one basketball greet Franson’s customers.
Born in the C&O Hospital in Clifton Forge in 1956, Franson attended Covington High School where he played baseball and football till his desire to own a 1969 Chevrolet Z-28 led him to get a job after school.
His love for sports has never changed, but the path he chose, a life of work, has paid off.
He learned the value of hard work from Edward H. Franson, his late father who worked in construction in Bath County, and his mother, Janet L. Harvey Franson.
Gerald recalled, “I worked at UPS and the Pilot Gas Station after school, and Phil Douglas (a former teacher at CHS and principal at Alleghany High School) gave me a rough time for not playing sports my senior year.”
After graduating from CHS, Gerald attended Dabney S. Lancaster Community College where he earned his associate’s degree in liberal arts.
By 1979, he had received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Roanoke College.
Gerald remembered, “When I was working as a night auditor from 11:00 p.m. till 7:00 a.m. and driving to attend Roanoke College, an insurance agent for Southland Life Insurance advertised a position for an agent.”
After working out the details about the problems that going to college full-time would present to an insurance agent, Gerald was hired, and he sold insurance for the Staunton based company from his junior year in college till 1988, when he started his own business above Kinzer Insurance in Covington.
Recently, Gerald was one of seven appointed as members who will comprise the new consolidated school system’s school board beginning on July 1.
“I have been for the merging of the schools as long as I can remember,” Gerald noted.
Today, Gerald owns Standard Printing & Office Supplies, Franson Properties, Inc., Franson Commercial Investments, Alleghany Electronic Monitoring (AEM) and Gerald E. Franson Insurance Agency, Inc. which has locations in Covington and Roanoke.
As for his views of what the Alleghany Highlands needs, Gerald offered, “We need more good paying jobs, and we have to do more by being like-minded in order to survive.”
He observed that there has been too much bickering between municipalities.
Gerald said, “We need to be more us and not them in terms of working together.”
Concerning the most pressing issues facing the U.S., Gerald remarked, “Inflation is horrible, and a lack of morality has led society to view what was once considered to be wrong as right these days.”
He stated, “A lot of people have turned away from God, and that was the foundation of our nation.”
Gerald is married to Patricia Jackson Franson from Caldwell, and he serves as a deacon and chairman of the finance committee at the Covington Baptist Church.
He has five children who live within a 50 mile radius of Covington and eight grandchildren who reside locally except for two, one who lives in Canada and one who moved to Florida.
Gerald posed the question, “When God was taken out of the schools, who replaced Him?”
As a member of the new school board, Gerald will work toward accomplishing teamwork that he views must take a “we” rather than a “them” approach in order to achieve success.
