NEW BETHLEHEM – The Charles P. Leach Agency will celebrate its 90th anniversary this weekend — and the New Bethlehem company isn’t holding back in marking the nine-decade milestone as it plans a Customer Appreciation event this Saturday in Gumtown Park.
“Our motto is ‘Protecting you like family,’” said Lisa Leach Goth, current agency president and third generation of her family to oversee the business. “We think of our employees and our customers as family.”
To mark the occasion, Goth said the event will take place from noon to 4 p.m. in the park along Water Street, featuring food trucks, a number of free items and prize giveaways, and activities for children, including bounce houses, face painting, sand art and a fire safety exhibit.
Prizes during the day will also include a television and grill, she said.
The public event on Saturday — along with a private dinner at the Redbank Valley History Center tonight for company vendors, and a dinner for the agency’s staff — marks 90 years since Goth’s grandfather, Charles “Charlie” Leach Sr., founded the agency in 1936.
“He actually started selling life insurance a few years earlier in 1932,” Goth explained, adding that the agency was officially opened at a site along Wood Street in 1936.
Over the years, the agency moved to a different location along Broad Street, and eventually into its current building around 1970, starting off in just part of the building, which also housed Bish’s Dairy, and over the years, expanding into the full facility as the company grew.
Milestones have followed the Leach Agency, roughly every 30 years since it was founded in 1936. Goth said that her father, Charles P. “Chuck” Leach Jr. joined the agency with his father in 1966, and together they incorporated the agency a year later.
Goth noted that her father had worked at General Motors after earning a mechanical engineering degree, and before deciding to return home to the family business in the 1960s.
Fast forward another 30 years, to 1996, which is when Goth returned home to also join the family agency in New Bethlehem.
And it’s not just the Leach family that has a long history with the local agency.
“My grandfather once said, ‘The key to a successful insurance agency is stability — and you build stability with loyal, capable employees who stay with you for many years and are devoted to customer service,’” Goth said. She explained that the Leach Agency has many longtime employees, including executive vice president Dalena Rupp, who has been with the company for 46 years. Sonia King, who retired several years ago, set the record of 57.5 years with the agency.
If the word “family” is the main theme of the Leach Agency, “community” is a close second.
“My grandfather was very active in the community and in politics,” Goth said, noting that Leach Sr. was not only involved in the local chamber of commerce, Boy Scouts and served as Republican chairperson for the state of Pennsylvania, but he also was instrumental in helping to bring a number of major businesses and industries to the area, including Crawford Furniture.
She said her father, Leach Jr., followed in the same footsteps, being highly involved in local emergency services, scouts, the chamber and other community groups, and even served as New Bethlehem mayor.
Goth herself has been active in the Redbank Valley and Clarion County communities through the years, including with her church, the chamber and other organizations.
Both Goth and her father have also been active at the state and national levels in the insurance industry.
Their service to the Redbank Valley area has been evidenced by multiple awards presented from the local chamber of commerce. Leach Sr. was recognized years ago as Citizen of the Year, Leach Jr. received the chamber’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and Goth was named Citizen of the Year in 2025. The agency claimed the Business the Year Award in 2012.
Through the years, the Leach Agency has also grown, now employing 21 people full-time, and two additional people part-time. It now has locations in New Bethlehem and Slippery Rock, although the company’s footprint extends well beyond the local and state areas.
“A lot of people think we are just right here in New Bethlehem,” Goth said. She explained that the agency is licensed in 26 states, and while it offers full lines of commercial, personal, health and life insurance, the Leach Agency has become one of the leaders in insuring volunteer fire companies.
“We are the largest single writer of [insurance for] volunteer fire departments in Pennsylvania,” Goth said, adding that the departments also extend into Ohio and New York.
In looking back on the agency’s long history, Goth returned to the company motto, “Protecting you like family.”
“For us, this goes way beyond some marking slogan,” she said. “We believe this captures the essence of our agency and continues the legacy of our founder. We truly do feel close to our clients, and we seek to guard and protect them like family.”