Mack Williams column: William L. Broadway, ‘insurance man’
Published 12:00 am Thursday, November 13, 2014
By Mack Williams
For the Salisbury Post
Some time ago, I wrote about the men who filled the bill of “role model-work hero” for boys growing up in the mid-20th century along the Old Concord Road (or for that matter, any paved, American automobile-driven path deemed worthy of print by Rand McNally).
Upon seeing a TV commercial for an insurance agency the other day, I remembered a “hero” inadvertently left out of that previous column.
At that time, I mentioned “railroad man,” “gravel-hauling man,” “Sunbeam Bakery man,” “mailman,” “teacher,” “fireman,” “milkman,” but neglected to mention that purveyor of security for this life, the “insurance man.” (Concerning those whose task it is to provide security for the life beyond, I have made prior mention of Pastor Floyd W. Bost on several occasions.)
Our insurance man was Mr. William L. Broadway. I googled the name just now, expecting to see an obituary, but instead, saw an advertisement for the William L. Broadway Insurance Agency located at 111 Mooresville Road, Salisbury.
Feeling sure that Mr. Broadway has passed by now, I assumed that one of his children proudly (and justifiably so) carries on the business in his name.
I don’t remember the physical location of Mr. Broadway‘s office, but do recall being there with my father on a number of occasions.
Although my father was a proponent of the maxim, “One can never have too much insurance,” I recall us sometimes stopping by Mr. Broadway‘s office just to chat, not about insurance, but about things happening in the world (as is the way of friends).
I remember Mr. Broadway as physically being sort of a cross between the actor Richard Basehart (TV’s “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”) and Arthur Godfrey (and, as with both of them, I seem to recall some freckles).
Mr. Broadway‘s official business ink pens also stick in my mind, along with an image of him making such calculations with them as insurance agents are wont to do. In addition to wishing I still had one of my father’s “Southern Railway No. 2” pencils, right now I wish I had a pen with “William L. Broadway Insurance Agency” emblazoned upon it.
I remember Mr. Broadway as usually wearing a dark blazer and tie, always well groomed. For some reason, the image of him chewing on chapped lips sticks with me, perhaps because I would sometimes chew on my chapped lips as well.
I don’t remember him as being tall, more of medium height and build, not overweight, but certainly more substantial than my wiry father.
Having mentioned previously that to me, Mr. Broadway seemed a little “Arthur Godfrey-esque,” I recall his voice as that of a pleasant baritone, not unlike Godfrey’s.
The late actor William Holden has been described as the typical “1950s man,” but to me, Mr. Broadway more correctly represented the “1950s man” of the workaday, business world.
I’m glad I remembered Mr.William L. Broadway.
It was through no fault of his that I hadn’t thought about him in a very long time.
By chance, that television insurance commercial nudged my memory, and there he was.
