Jennifer Shepley is running Shepley Insurance alone.

"I'm it for the business," she said. Her father, James Shepley, of Mattapoisett, passed away in late August leaving his insurance business entirely in her hands.

A Mattapoisett resident since 1967, James Shepley joined Guardian Life and opened Shepley Insurance where he handled life and casualty insurance and estate and financial planning. Of his five children, Jennifer was the one who decided to follow her father into the insurance business after she spent eight years as a teacher.

"He thought it might be Shepley and Son but my brothers said no so he was like, 'how about you?' said Shepley.

Now, after his passing, she's left managing his business on County Road, picking up where he left off and still having to put up with having a fire truck as her neighbor. There might be new paint on the walls, but the truck is staying.

"In his retirement I was preparing myself to run this," she said, adding that her father gradually retired, slowly giving her more and more of the business.

"He was in the back office," she said. "He helped with a lot of the estate planning. It made the older clients feel better to see his gray head shaking 'yes' when I'd give them advice."

First on the agenda is hiring a new assistant. Second is just keeping the ball rolling while giving the office a make-over to be a bit more client-friendly.

She's grateful, however, for her father's tireless effort in establishing and running the company for so long while investing himself and his efforts back into the town.

"I didn't have to build it from scratch," she said. "It's a small town and all we have is our reputation."