Keeping His Spirit Alive
As a young insurance agent, Mark Wandall didn't needed to be convinced to buy life insurance. But even Mark would be amazed at all that the insurance has meant for his wife, Melissa, and for many other people he never met.
Mark was just 30 when he was killed in an auto accident less than a mile from his Bradenton, Fla., home. He was the passenger in a car that was broadsided by a driver who ran a red light. He died less than a week after celebrating his first wedding anniversary and just 19 days before the birth of his daughter, Madison Grace.
The life insurance has allowed Melissa to remain in the family home, take time off from her career so she can be a full-time mom, and put money into a college fund for Madison Grace.
The insurance has also given Melissa the opportunity to keep Mark's spirit alive through two important causes. She formed the Mark Wandall Foundation to raise money for worthy causes in her community. She also is the driving force behind a citizens' coalition pushing for a new state law, the Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, that would stiffen criminal penalties for red-light running. "Melissa is making a difference in the community and in the state of Florida," says Joseph St. Onge, ChFC, a family friend who worked with Mark at John Hancock Financial Network.
Life insurance has provided Melissa with options that wouldn't otherwise have been available to a young, single mother. "Without it, I don't think I would have the time or the energy to put into the foundation and the coalition," says Melissa. "It has allowed me to do these things and to be at home with my daughter."
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