Jo Buzzard was a woman of many talents, but her best talent was dealing with people, according to her husband.

“She never met a stranger,” Marvin Buzzard said. “She would talk to anybody and they would visit with her.”

Jo Buzzard, 60, an insurance agent in the Lawrence area for nearly 20 years, died Friday at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

It was her smooth way with people that allowed her to build a successful career in the insurance business, her supervisor said.

“She was a good listener,” said Rick Slocum, district manager for American Family Life Insurance in Topeka. “She was able to help a lot of people resolve their insurance needs and she was able to make them feel comfortable.”

Slocum hired Jo Buzzard 19 years ago. During her career she won numerous awards for her work.

“There were not many female agents in our business then,” Slocum said. “We soon found out there was a market there for female agents. Everybody has different comfort levels with different genders, and she was able to penetrate a market that maybe a male agent couldn’t.”

Jo Buzzard was supporter of Haskell Indian Nations University, where her husband is vice president for university services. She enjoyed Haskell sports events and was a big Kansas University basketball fan as well, Marvin Buzzard said.

“She was a huge (Kansas City) Chiefs fan,” Marvin Buzzard said. “We had season tickets to the Chiefs.”

A South Dakota native, Jo Buzzard was a musician in her earlier years.

“When she was in high school she was all-state in band for four years in South Dakota, and they take their music seriously up there,” Marvin Buzzard said. She played the saxophone and piano and was a music teacher before she went into the insurance business.

Services for Jo Buzzard will be at 11 a.m. today at Warren-McElwain Mortuary. She will be buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.