Day in and day out, Jason Langston fulfills many roles. As a Farmers Insurance agent, he is a fixture in the Lee’s Summit business community who works to meet customer needs and serve the city in various capacities. At home, he helped support his now 7-year-old son through cancer during a pandemic year.
After long-time Farmers Insurance agent Randy Weeda retired in 2018, Langston came to Lee’s Summit to use his many years of experience to move the business forward. In his time here, he has grown to love the community and is now involved in the Lee’s Summit Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and Optimist Club. He also participates in local charitable organizations such as Lee’s Summit Cares, Lee’s Summit Social Services and One Good Meal.
He says he has enjoyed being able to meet people and get connected through his community involvement, but he has also been able to support community needs and create awareness as well.
Langston has been married to Linda for 16 years, and they have three children – Jack, 13, Reagan, 9, and George, 7. Their lives are filled with youth sports and typical family activities, but the family faced a difficult chapter when George was diagnosed in January 2020 with a cancerous tumor in his eye socket. It began as a bump under his eye, but it continued to grow and needed immediate treatment.
George began chemotherapy, and the family then traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the spring of 2020 for him to receive proton therapy. The family believed this treatment would give George the best outcome, but at the time it was not offered locally. The University of Kansas Health System is now beginning to offer this treatment here.
The whole family was able to stay in Minnesota together for seven weeks during George’s treatment because it occurred during the pandemic shutdown with school and work being done virtually and other activities cancelled.
“Like a lot of families, we learned that time together was really special,” Langston says. “We slowed down, we focused on being together as a family, supporting George and doing things together at home.”
George finished his treatment and rang the bell in July, and Langston says he has been doing awesome ever since. In typical 7-year-old fashion, he is back to school and soccer. While his cancer journey is not over, all indications are good, and his prognosis is positive.
While this experience added to the many challenges 2020 brought, Langston says his family certainly learned a few lessons along the way. He says George was a trooper through it all and maintained a great outlook. Looking back, he says he and Linda are amazed with how they persevered through the year.
“You are surprised by how you can step up and persevere when your child is sick,” he says.
Even when home and family demands are high, Langston has continued his commitment to his business, customer service and doing what is right for the customer.
Joel Wilson said when he started a business in Lee’s Summit, he wanted to use someone local for insurance. He says he did not have a personal relationship with his previous agency and did not feel they were guiding him into what was right for him.
Wilson says Langston has taken the time to sit down and understand his goals and what he is trying to protect. He said Langston and his agency have helped him learn about the different aspects of insurance and how to use insurance to meet his goals.
“I am more of a relationship-type person, so it’s important to me that they understand us,” Wilson says. “The better they understand us, the more interested they are in building that relationship.”
Wilson says he found that kind of relationship with Langston and his agency.
“In my business, you have to adapt to the way the modern consumer does business,” Langston says. “We have to be nimble and able to work virtually and conduct business that way. At the same time, it is very important for us to be here serving people in the community where we are local and available. We provide service for people, and they know us. We can accomplish the modern things people need access to, but at the same time they know they can call here and talk to me or my staff.”
While things in 2021 are looking more “normal” for the Langston family, they are remembering the important lessons they learned through it all.
“We really treasure our time together as a family and making sure we are not ‘go-go-go’ all the time,” he says.
