Wilgus Associates celebrated its 80^th anniversary on July 3, with a barbecue, live music, congratulatory comments from state Sen. Gerald Hocker and state Rep. Ron Gray, and the presentation of a $10,000 check to the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company — a Wilgus insurance client since 1947.

The company, located at 32904 Coastal Highway in Bethany Beach, offers not only insurance — which Kylie Givens, a fourth-generation Wilgus family employee, called “the largest part of our business and the founding part that started in 1965” — but also buying, selling, insuring and managing properties.

“What sets us apart is the ability to have one-stop shopping,” Givens, a Realtor, said about the business that employs 50 and has a second location on Savannah Road in Lewes. “We’ve been locally owned and operated since the beginning, and that local connection is at the heart of everything we do. What makes Wilgus unique is that we offer it all under one roof — real estate sales, insurance, vacation and year-round rentals and community management. We can help you buy a home, insure it, rent it, manage it and even sell it again when the time comes.”

The 80^th anniversary celebration was set for Thursday, July 3. The business’ 50^th anniversary was observed in 1995, and the 75^th was being planned but had to be canceled in 2010 due to pandemic restrictions, so Wilgus employees had been looking forward to the 80^th.

The company was started by Givens’ paternal great-grandfather, William F. Wilgus, in 1945.

“He bought a company in Dagsboro, Truitt & Steelman, then he relocated it to the family bowling alley on Second Street in Bethany Beach,” she explained. “In the 1950s, he moved the business to a single-family home next to Lord Baltimore Elementary School in Ocean View because he had four children — two sons and two daughters — and one of his daughters got polio. So, he bought a home there so she could get back and forth to school in her wheelchair.

“He had the business there, and in 1956, my grandfather, Gerald Wilgus, joined the business. In 1959, his brother, Donald Wilgus, joined. In the early ’60s, they bought this location. We moved here in 1964. Then, in 1965, we started in real estate.”

In 1981, Donald Wilgus retired and Gerald Wilgus’ three children began working there — Givens’ father, Michael Wilgus, in 1981, her uncle David Wilgus in 1985, and aunt Melanie Bennett in 1988.

Givens joined in 2006, and her cousin Derek Wilgus started in the business in 2020.

Bennett and her family moved out of the area in the 1990s, and Gerald Wilgus retired, but the family has kept it going.

“I take great pride in what Wilgus Associates has meant to this community over the years. … From personal and business insurance to every stage of homeownership, we’re here with the support you need,” Givens told the Coastal Point.

“But it’s more than just business for us. We live here, we work here, and we care deeply about this community. We’re proud to support many local organizations, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to give back to the place that has given our family so much. It’s an honor to continue serving our community and building lasting relationships with the people who make this area so special,” she said.

“I do enjoy it,” she added of the work. “I started here right after summers during college, answering the phone in the summer for the rental department, so I got to learn that business. After I graduated from college, I worked at the front desk in the main office. It was a good learning experience.”

Givens worked in vacation rentals seven years, until the birth of the first daughter for her and her husband, Chris. Charlotte is now 9. Their younger daughter, Zada, is named for her great-grandmother. Her husband works in property management for Wilgus.

“I loved booking property rentals, helping them plan their vacations, because they were excited and it was a very rewarding job and fun. Everybody was very happy,” she said.

“I feel like starting from the beginning, from the bottom, from answering phones, helped me learn and gave me a knowledge of different parts. I really enjoyed it through the years. Helping people achieve the goals of buying a beach house was a great opportunity to stay in this area,” Givens said.

“I love Sussex County even through all the changes. Every time I ride over the Inlet Bridge, I’m just so thankful I’ve been able to stay here.”