LEXINGTON — For 30 years, Jade Knick has dedicated her career to serving Farm Bureau members, helping families protect what matters most through insurance coverage that marks life’s milestones and guards against unexpected hardship.
This past March, that decades-long commitment was recognized when Knick was named the 2025 Ralph Stokes Career Achievement Award Honoree at Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.’s annual Sales Conference. It is the highest honor the organization bestows upon its sales leaders, and it carries the name of the late Ralph Stokes — a 32-year Smyth County agent and disabled veteran.
Knick’s path to Rockbridge County was anything but planned. After earning a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from West Virginia University in 1991, she moved to Virginia for her first job — and had never even heard of Rockbridge County before arriving.
Armed with her agriculture degree and a genuine desire to work alongside farmers and rural residents, she was hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmers Home Administration, an agency now known as USDA Rural Development. She spent five years conducting property inspections and appraisals before her office relocated to Augusta County.
Rather than follow her office, Knick chose to stay in Rockbridge County. Retired Agency Manager Jack Ingle brought her on as a Rockbridge County Farm Bureau agent, where she was mentored by retired agent Geoff Goodbar — a friend, neighbor, fellow churchgoer and the 2009 Ralph Stokes honoree himself.
