Insurance is in the Kline family’s blood.

The New Year will mark Stanley Kline’s 50th as an agent for New York Life Insurance Company — as well as a special time for son Mark, also an NYLIC agent.

Mark Kline, 50, was in the produce section of a grocery store during the summer when he received a call from the worldwide company’s executive vice president. He was calling to tell Mark Kline he was the No. 1 agent out of 11,500 for the year and would be the 2010 council president, “an honor bestowed annually on the New York Life agent with the nation’s highest sales and service achievements,” according to a company press release.

Mark Kline said he immediately thought of his father.

“I said on the phone, ‘I want you to do two things: First, I’d like for you to call my father and tell him it’s official; then, even though it won’t be his 50th year until 2011, I’d like him to be recognized when I receive my award.’”

His requests were granted, and on Oct. 27, at the Chairman’s Council Meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., the father-and-son agents stood side-by-side in front of their peers, each holding a plaque of distinction.

Stanley Kline, 74, said pride “brought tears to my eyes,” but he wasn’t surprised by his son’s achievement.

“He has always had a tremendous sense of drive and tenacity,” he said. “He was a people person very early on.”

Mark Kline was the infant son of Stanley and Bettye Sue Kline when his father began working in insurance. As he grew up, attending All Saints’ Episcopal School, he watched his father operate the local New York Life agency.

He now lives in Little Rock, Ark., where he focuses on acting on a vision shared by father and son — “relationships are everything.”

“Our whole focus is building and maintaining relationships,” Stanley Kline said. “It’s essential to develop strong and personal ties with the people we serve.”

Mark Kline agrees.

“I once told a client that his doctor knows his medical issues, his accountant knows his financial accounts, and his clergy or priest knows his mind; but I know it all, and you can’t get much closer than that,” he said. “Insurance requires a very deep level of trust, and you have to forge relationships to create that trust.”

As for work ethic, Mark Kline said he learned that, too, through his father.

“At an early age I started pushing a lawn mower up and down the hills of Vicksburg,” he said. “If I wanted a bike, then I had to cut a yard.”

Then his father was there when the stuff bigger than bicycles came along.

“When I started selling insurance, I depended a lot on my father. I’d find a potential client and call him saying, ‘I’ve got a fish on the line… Can you walk me through the case?’” he said.

A father’s involvement has produced a son’s appreciation, and Mark Kline said receiving his honor has been a means to give his gratitude.

“Right now I’m at my office wearing jeans with my feet on the desk,” Mark Kline said over the phone days ago.

“I don’t need these accolades,” he said. “Having my father on stage with me while we received our awards was what was so special. Sharing that with him was a way of saying, ‘Thank you, Dad.’”