High school sweethearts, Allen and Lynda Striepe were true soul mates. They married, became schoolteachers and were very active in their local Methodist church, with Allen serving as a lay minister and Lynda playing the organ.
Through the church, Allen and Lynda got to know Richard Garrett, a minister of music. When Richard later became a licensed insurance agent, his agency was awarded the contract to offer a long-term care product to educators in Allen and Lynda’s school district in Autauga County, Alabama. When he contacted his friends, then in their mid-50s, they initially felt they were too young to consider long-term care insurance. But their minds changed when Richard explained that 40 percent of all long-term care claims benefit people under 65.