Malta's LaFond sets up in Havre

Like a good neighbor, Tom LaFond is there...he's just not as close as he used to be.

On New Year's Day, LaFond, a longtime Malta resident, opened his new State Farm Insurance Agency office in Havre, Mont., after nearly a year's worth of schooling in California and Helena in order to obtain his license.

"The schooling was nine months," LaFond said. "I had to pass all of the Montana exams, all six of them ... property, causality, life and health, bank and securities."

LaFond, who turned 50 last year, said that going back to school wasn't ideal, but it wasn't as strenuous as climbing electrical poles or farming, both of which he has done in the past.

"It was almost welcoming for someone my age," he said. "There are goods and bad with that. When you work with your hands outside all your life, it is kind of hard to make that adjustment. On the other hand, I don't ache every day when I get home."

Joe Laird was formally the State Farm agent in both Havre and Malta (spending two days a week in Phillips County) and when he departed; it was LaFond's intent to pick up where Laird left off and continue to operate out of the Malta office. Unfortunately, the State Farm corporate office decided that their Malta agent was spread too thin with the weekly trips to Phillips County and decided to shut the Malta location.

"I own the building (where Laird worked) and I got a call one day and they (State Farm) said they weren't going to rent from me anymore," LaFond recalls. "I asked them if I did something wrong. They told me that Joel had gotten a new position in California and corporate had made the decision to close the Malta office all together."

State Farm told LaFond that Malta and the rest of Phillips County would still be served by the local agent, but that said agent would be working out of Havre.

"I hadn't even started the hiring on process with them when this happened," added LaFond. "Anybody that knows me, knows I am a Malta boy and if I could have stayed there with the agency, I would have done it, there is no doubt about it."

LaFond said that the State Farm clients in Phillips County who have been served by the company over the years are used to being able to walk in the front door anytime they had a comment, question or concern. He said that while the office in Malta has changed, the service they have received over the years will not.

"I want them to know that I am only 85 or 90 miles away and I will be going back and forth to service my customers although I cannot, according to State Farm rules, have a storefront for my business in Malta," he said. "If I have to drive back and forth to visit with people about their insurance, I am still going to help and protect those people in Malta."

LaFond's new shop, which has technically been in the same location for years, is located on 3rd Street in Havre.

"They went through and did a remodel and added a bunch of cubicles," said LaFond. "I've got more cubicles than I can afford to put agents in. It's a beautiful building."

After almost a year in the making, LaFond said he is excited to get the ball rolling with his new business, but LaFond admits that the decision to relocate wasn't necessarily a popular one with his family.

"It was hard," he said. "I think we all cried at one time or another. The kid's hated it. They had grown up in that house and in those bedrooms."

LaFond and his wife, Tammy, have been married for 21 years and have two children – Jessen, 20, and Josie, 18. It was with a heavy heart that the LaFond's left their home and family in Malta for the new venture in Havre, he looks forward to coming home as often as possible.

"I just want to really convey the fact that I will come back and forth to Malta," he said. "People shouldn't feel that because their agent is in Havre that they have to drive back and forth to see me. This is my business and I am going to take care of them whenever they need me to visit with them and make sure that their insurance needs are met."