Bill Higgins, former co-owner of Hogan Tire in Houlton and a 44-year veteran in the tire industry, was recently honored at a reception held at the Lakeside Restaurant in New Limerick on the occasion of his retirement.
Higgins was hired as a route salesman for the company by Galen Hogan back in October of 1979. In 2002, Higgins and fellow employee Jody Anderson purchased Hogan Tire and for 21 years oversaw the day-to-day operations of the company.
It was not uncommon to see Anderson mounting tires with the employees while Higgins maintained sales calls and delivered tires weekly on a route to Down East Maine, which was an area he opened up almost 40 years ago.
Both Bill and Jody have said they believe that being involved and doing the same work as the employees, and getting out communicating with the customers, were major reasons for the success they achieved.
In the fall of 2022, Eric Gill approached Bill and Jody with the purpose of purchasing Hogan Tire. The deal was finalized in January of 2023. Even though most all of Gill’s properties are under the Eric Gill Pointe S Tire logo, he knew how important it was to keep things going as they are and will continue to operate as Hogan Tire.
Present at the reception were Bill’s entire family, Galen and Barbara Hogan, Eric Gill, Jody and Donna Anderson, Bill’s sales team, General Manager Mike Hawkes and a few vendors that supply Hogan Tire.
“It was an honor to work for Hogan as an employee and owner and I’m thankful for the great sendoff everyone gave me today,” Higgins said.
“I can only hope that retirement goes as smoothly as being a member of the workforce,” he said.
