HAWLEY, PA — It was quite a time, 45 years ago. Big hair was making a statement. The Winter Olympics launched in Lake Placid, NY, and the U.S. beat the Soviet Union in hockey. The video game “Pac-Man” was released in Japan.

And 21-year-old Laurie Granville started at Hawley-based insurance company AMSkier.

In December 2025, Granville retired, and AMSkier gave her a proud sendoff. 

Granville, who is from Hawley, began her work life at Woodloch Pines—at age 14. Then in 1980, “I started in the claims department at AMSkier under the supervision of Dottie McNamara, who was a wonderful, caring person with lots of experience, and I learned a lot from her.”

Eventually Granville moved to the accounting department, and she stayed at AMSkier for decades.

What was so special about this company? “I loved working at AMSkier because it was a very caring environment,” she said. Example: In 1982, only two years after she started work there, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

“I was only 24 years old at the time, and this was the first experience of a close family member being seriously ill, and I was definitely scared,” she said. “Henry [Skier] was very caring and compassionate during this time and allowed me all the time off I needed to take my mom to New York to Sloan-Kettering for her operation and treatments for a full year afterwards. This meant a lot to me and is the reason that I have always given much more than 100 percent of myself to AMSkier.”

The company was founded by Abe Skier in 1920, and is now a third-generation family business that builds relationships with its clients in addition to providing valuable resources, as noted on its website. AMSkier offers personal and business insurance, a worldwide insurance program for children’s camps and more. 

“I will start off by saying that there are very few employees with the level of dedication and loyalty towards the Skier family that exceeds Laurie’s,” said CFO Joseph Faubel. “We have high expectations at AMSkier for our staff.  Some might even say we are too ‘demanding.’  However, loyalty has its rewards.  We take care of our staff like no others do.”

Although AMSkier handles many types of insurance, it’s particularly well known for its camp insurance, and Granville handled accounts receivable for the camps for much of her career. “This involved following up on our invoices that were sent to our camp clients with emailed statements and/or phone calls,” she said, as well as special payment arrangements if they were needed.

“I always tried to show my concern for our clients and treat them how I would like to be treated.” 

The level of support continued when Granville lost her husband of 34 years suddenly in 2013, and when she went through a bout of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2022-2023. During that time, “Henry and everyone at AMSkier were very caring and supportive,” she said. 

“On a personal note, I owe my start at AMSkier to Laurie Granville,” Faubel said. “When Henry Skier was looking for a CFO, Laurie leaked the news to her friend, who also happened to be my sister-in-law, because Laurie knew that I was a CPA. I showed up for an interview before the ad hit the papers. Thirty-four years later, I am still here!”

Eventually, retirement beckoned. She worked till December 12, and after that, “my time has been filled with Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking and visiting since then,” Granville said.

And now what will she do with her time?

“I have always spent most of my spare time with family,” she said. “My kids were involved in many sports growing up, and then I spent time with my parents as they aged.” Laurie Granville has two grown children and five grandchildren, and retirement will give her a chance for plenty of family time. 

“Being not at all fond of WINTER,” she continued, “my plans right now are to go through and declutter and organize my house for the next few months. Hopefully, when it gets warmer out, I will be able to do a bit of traveling and more fun stuff.” 

AMSkier might be a company that looked after its employees, as Granville pointed out. But she was known for caring for her workplace family as well as her loved ones. 

“I’d say she was known to whip up some rice pudding when someone needed to be cheered up,” said Penny Spory, AMSkier accounting supervisor. “She would bring in the cinnamon, raisins and whipped cream, all separate so that you can make it the way you like. [That] certainly showed how much she cared about those who worked with her.”