Planes, Trains & Heroes: A Story of Warner Robins and the Robins Region

JIMMY SPINKS,
STATE FARM
AGENT
For some, “if these walls could talk” is
just a catchphrase. But, in the case of Jimmy
Spinks, the walls of his State Farm office
located at 1410 Russell Parkway tell a most
captivating story.
From the moment one crosses the agency
threshold, a vast collection of plaques, certificates,
photos and mementos chronicle Spinks’
life and career. From top agent awards spanning
a stellar four-and-a-half decade career with
State Farm to plaques honoring his service to
the community as an active member and leader
of organizations such as the Warner Robins
Chamber of Commerce, the Warner Robins
Noon Optimist Club and local Jaycees as well
as Centerville United Methodist Church, just to
name a few.
Interspersed throughout is a bounty of
framed photographs of friends, co-workers and
family. Photos of Patsy, his wife of more than
fifty years who he met while attending Warner
Robins High School and married not long after
graduating; photos of their three boys—Brad,
Greg and Dean—two of who have followed his
footsteps into the insurance field and one who
serves in an executive leadership role for
Facebook’s Global Culinary operations.
And then there are the grandkids, six in
all—two sets of twins, Carson and Carter and
Katie and Kyle, and the oldest of the brood,
Conner and Clayton, the latter who has also
chosen insurance as a career after learning the
ropes from his grandfather and father. Like his
own father, Brad, Clayton currently serves
as a claims handler for another major
insurance provider.
Spinks’ desk and bookshelves also don keepsakes
that tell of his passions and purpose—a
replica of a motorcycle just like the one he
enjoyed riding across country with his brotherin-law
and other biking pals in his younger
years; a photo of his sons’ first car on which
they worked on together; a photo card of
Barney and the gang from the Andy Griffith
show, a show that Spinks still watches every
day to wind down. He laughs as he proceeds to
tell about the silly antics Barney was up to in
the last episode.
There is even a framed photo of Spinks sitting
in his very first office, a space he rented for
$50 a month. His first calculator, a Texas
Instruments’ Data Math, which his mother gave
him when he opened that first office, holds its
own next to other memorabilia.
Born in Macon, GA the same year the town
of Wellston was renamed Warner Robins,
Spinks moved to Warner Robins with his family
in 1947 when just three years old. He went to
98 ✦ PLANES, TRAINS & HEROES