.jpg)
Wlaf1450‘We’ve embraced the community, and the community has been very good to us’- Lansden Hill
LAFOLLETTE, T (WLAF)- E.E. Hill, Elbert Ellison, had an automobile dealership in downtown La Follette and thought it would be great to sell insurance to people who were buying his cars. As it turned out, here 100 years later, the insurance idea well out lived the dealership. EE Hill & Son Insurance marks its 100th year in business in 2025, and it’s still family owned and operated by the Hill family.
E.E. brought his son Lan Hill into the business in 1938 and in-turn, Lan welcomed his son, Lansden, to Hill Insurance in 1974. The three Hill men grew the insurance agency from an office above the original building that housed Peoples National Bank, to a nearby building and then, in the late 1960s, the agency moved into its current location on West Central Avenue.
Lan Hill was born in 1910 and joined the U-S Navy in 1932 serving six years before coming home to work with his father at Hill Insurance. World War II broke out, and Lan returned to serve his country in the Navy from August 1942 until the war ended in 1945.
“A lot of people think E.E. Hill & Son is my dad and me, but it’s actually my dad and my grandfather,” said Lansden Hill. The agency moved into what was originally the Pennington & Mackebee Architectural and Construction firm office at 701 West Central Avenue.
The mid-1960s is when E.E. Hill retired, and Lan Hill brought his brother-in-law David Reynolds into the business. Upon graduating from the University of Tennessee in 1974, Lansden Hill joined the firm.
Returning to La Follette and working in the family business was not quite how Lansden saw his future. “Every business has its period of stress, and I’d seen my dad have a lot of stressful evenings over something with his insurance business. I was too young to realize everything has stress,” said Lansden.
“When I was in college talking to my buddies, I said I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life, but I know two things I am absolutely not going to do. I’m never gonna go back to La Follette, and I’m not going to be in the insurance business,” said Lansden.
When Lansden graduated UT, he knew an entry level Bachelor of Science degree pay was about a thousand dollars a month. Everywhere he wanted to go, whether it be Nashville, Lexington or Charlotte, Atlanta, where ever, it was going to cost several hundred dollars more to live that what he was going to get paid. The math just wasn’t working.
“My dad said if you don’t find something you like better, you can work at the insurance agency for $600 a month. They were going to rent me the house, where I still live actually, for $85 a month. After doing the math, that was the only option I had where I could actually afford to live,” said Lansden.
At $600 a month, Lansden claims he was grossly overpaid. “I was not a stellar employee,” Lansden stated.
“I had forgotten, I guess, during the time I was away in school how much I had enjoyed La Follette. I grew up here. I had my Jeep, and we have the most beautiful lake in America. My friends were here, and I was living large,” said Lansden.
It was well established that Lansden’s job at the insurance agency was not his highest priority. “Why he, his dad, tolerated me, I don’t know, but he did. I finally started getting traction after about three years, and it turned out well, because my dad’s health was starting to fail,” said Lansden.
“I was given three years probation, and it turned out OK. So, I can’t complain the way it’s turned out, but the way it started was not the way I had it planned,” said Lansden.
The strength of any business is the employees, the customer service, and EE Hill & Son Insurance has been blessed to be in a community that has embraced the agency, according to Lansden.
“We have had some of the most amazing employees during my lifetime. Elsie Kibler was here for years and years when I first realized what was going on. Rissa Ward worked here for a long time and Lola Heatherly,” said Lansden.
More recently, Cathy Owens has been amazing, according to Lansden. Owens was the last person to be hired by Lansden’s dad, Lan. Owens arrived in 1976 when it was Mr. Hill, (Uncle) Dave Reynolds, Linda McNeill, Lansden and Owens. “Cathy would tell me what to do, and I would say, yes, ma’am, and it seemed to work out really well,” said Lansden.
Childhood friend and college roommate David Rutherford has been with Lansden since the late 1970s. “He’s just been a champion,” said Lansden.
You often hear that the driving force of any business is its employees. “That’s true, and this agency would not have succeeded without the quality of people that we have here,” said Lansden.
“It’s been a really good ride,” said Lansden Hill. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/22/2025-6AM-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)