Lewises to retire from title business | News
4 min readOSWEGO — Steve and Cheryl Lewis are retiring from Protection 1st Title, a company that a 12 months ago this 7 days acquired their Oswego business enterprise, Realty Inc.
A retirement celebration for Steve and Cheryl will consider position from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at Claythorne Lodge in rural Columbus, 1329 N.W. 100th St.
The Lewises have labored jointly at Realty for nearly 44 years and owned it for 31 yrs immediately after paying for it from Vernon and Laura Correll. Steve started working there in 1975 and Cheryl joined him in 1978. Vernon and Laura Correll ended up Cheryl’s moms and dads.
Realty and now Stability 1st are abstract and title organizations. Realty began as an summary agency that presented an attorney’s view to assure very good title to a house. It has progressed to give title insurance plan, actual estate closings and escrows for consumers.
An summary is a chronology of recorded paperwork and proceedings relevant to a piece of real estate. They are not requested normally now but previously ended up manufactured available to property purchasers.
Realty was included in Kansas in 1949 by J.C. Creel. It operated in Parsons at 1923 Principal and then at 1917 Key for a variety of decades and in Oswego at its present-day area, 406 Industrial.
An advert in a March 1965 edition of the Parsons Sun indicated that a Realty predecessor was set up in 1874 in Labette County. Realty: “The enterprise with the title documents considering the fact that 1874,” the advert study, listing Hazel Didlake as firm president.
The firm nevertheless has historical documents for Parsons and Labette County. It has practically 1,000 of the first deeds issued in the city of Parsons, Steve mentioned. The firm also has initial land surveys performed in 1870 in Labette County by C.W. Babcock, together with other historic records. Some of these historic information ended up applied in their abstract and title work.
Stability 1st Title acquired Realty on June 15, 2021. Just after the sale, the Lewises agreed to operate comprehensive time for six months and then 3 times a 7 days for the 6 adhering to months. Wednesday was to be their retirement working day, but Thursday identified them in the business all over again. They have agreed to go on to assist as essential right until their son, Ty, the county supervisor for Protection 1st, and his spouse, Nikki, title officer, can seek the services of up to four a lot more individuals.
Cheryl claimed they seemed at a few corporations just before agreeing to market to Security 1st simply because the Lewises imagined Safety 1st would provide the ideal purchaser assistance to existing and new consumers. Security 1st has specific homeowners and 500 personnel in 76 places in Kansas, Missouri and Nevada.
The Lewises said technological know-how has created it complicated for small providers to thrive. They have adapted several times in their company to activities and field modifications. Which is why they searched for the greatest healthy in a new owner.
“They can offer solutions we just cannot supply, that we simply cannot pay for to give,” Steve mentioned.
In the very last yr, they’ve been operating for Ty. Cheryl reported she texted Ty one particular morning early on to notify him that she and Steve would be late because they experienced to get a truck serviced.
“I get a text ideal back again. ‘Don’t make a routine of this,’” she reported, laughing.
Ty joined Realty in 1996 immediately after attending the University of Kansas.
“It’s been a blessing to be equipped to operate with Ty and Nikki,” Cheryl stated.
Steve echoed that remark, including, “I’m a person ass chewing from staying out the door.”
Ty reported he’s savored doing the job with his spouse and children as well.
“The titles modified, but I don’t consider the partnership has changed any,” he stated.
Steve and Cheryl Lewis have been active in Oswego and the county all through their careers. He’s served on the Oswego USD 504 college board, the Oswego Metropolis Council, the Oswego Chamber, the Oswego Lions Club, the Good Plains Growth Authority and the Labette Group Higher education Basis. He’s also a deacon at Oswego Very first Baptist Church and was a past president of the Kansas Land Title Affiliation. Cheryl was active in Beta Sigma Phi and has served 9 decades on the Parsons Location Neighborhood Foundation.
In retirement, the Lewises prepare on remaining in the local community for now, touring and working on their “hobby” farm. They have a lover in the cattle farm and have returned some of the home to indigenous grass and a wetland. They also have a lease/hunt operation on the property. Cheryl also creates artwork with gourds.
Steve claimed any additional it’s uncommon to come across a person who has long gone to function at the similar building for approximately 47 a long time as he has.
“A lot of adjustments around the years, but adaptability has been the essential to survive,” he mentioned.
“It’s been a fantastic everyday living. You never get rich. It is just a fantastic everyday living. It is difficult perform. It’s a large amount of operate. We have savored it. We’ve constantly taken pleasure in how we taken care of our customers,” Cheryl claimed.
