Seasoned greetings Holden man who welcomes shoppers at Wal-Mart in Brewer has a rich and colorful past

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Many area residents may know William “Bill” Hunt from his live advertising for Hunt’s IGA on the “Al and Aileen” show on Channel 2 during the 1950s and ’60s.

Others may know him from his days as a sideline official at Bangor High School football games or for his role as Santa at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Nowadays, Hunt, 79, spends his time greeting shoppers at the Brewer Wal-Mart Supercenter.

“I enjoy people and I enjoy helping people,” Hunt said about his full-time job. “It’s something I’ve done all my life. I help people whenever I can.”

As a greeter at Wal-Mart, Hunt welcomes customers into the store and assists them with directions. He works 35 to 40 hours a week.

When Hunt was a youngster, his first job was delivering milk for Grant’s Dairy, for which he earned 50 cents a day. His first full-time job was working for National Biscuit Co., now known as Nabisco, where he was paid on a sliding scale.

“Working for National Biscuit, I got 45 cents an hour for eight hours a day,” he said. “After 40 hours you got 40 cents [an hour] and after 45 hours, you got 35 cents. That was to keep you under 40 hours.”

After National Biscuit, Hunt joined the U.S. Navy and served four years on the USS Sanborn, which served as a troop transport in the Pacific during World War II.

“I was born in Burlington, but I was raised in Bangor,” said Hunt, who graduated from Bangor High School in 1942. He lives in Holden and will turn 80 on May 18.

Hunt was educated at Northeastern University in Massachusetts for two years and then spent another two years working for a five-and-dime store in Skowhegan before he took a post working for his mother at Allen’s Grocery Store in Bangor.

“My mother ran a mom and pop store here in Bangor and needed my help,” he said. “I came over and helped her run the store. Then in 1955 I opened up an IGA on Broadway.”

Hunt’s IGA opened at 489 Broadway, between Mary Snow School and Bangor Gardens, and was open for 17 years. Hunt remembers the time with fondness.

“For 10 years I was on the ‘Al and Aileen’ program every Thursday doing advertising for the store,” he said. “During the snowstorm of 1962 I was one of the only stores open. We had to dig a tunnel from the store to the street. I’ll never forget that.”

According to a Bangor Daily News report about the New Year’s Eve blizzard, Hunt was amazed by people’s mode of travel.

“It’s the first time I ever saw people come into the shop on snowshoes,” he was quoted as saying. “It was quite a change to see sleds and toboggans lined up in front of the store instead of cars.”

Between 1967 and 1970 Hunt also sponsored Bangor’s semipro baseball team.

“When I had the store, I had a semipro baseball team called the Bangor Merchants,” he said. “I used players from the University [of Maine] and players from the Bangor and Brewer area. We traveled in Maine and to New Hampshire and Canada.”

Hunt blames Interstate 95 for the demise of his business. In 1973, the building was demolished to make room for a service station.

“The interstate came in and just killed me,” he said. “After I closed the store, I went to work for the city.”

While working for Bangor, Hunt directed buses for the school system and helped plan and implement the city’s public transportation system called The Bus.

After he ended his employment for Bangor, Hunt worked as a manager for Stacey’s Motel in Brewer before taking a post with Penobscot County.

“I got a job with the county as the civil defense director,” he said.

Under this hat, Hunt was in charge of preparing area leaders and law enforcement for disasters and explaining to town officials what to do in case of emergencies.

“It was part time and I just couldn’t do it,” he said. “Then I went to work for Hall’s Security. We did security at Eastern Maine Medical Center for 11 years and then I did St. Joe’s [St. Joseph Hospital] for five years for the same company.”

During this 60-year span, Hunt also spent time serving the community.

“In 1965 to 1968 I was on the Bangor City Council,” he said. “In 1961 I founded the Bangor High School Booster Club, and I worked Bangor football games for 20 years as a linesman.”

Hunt also is a past president of the Bangor Noontime Kiwanis Club and a former Mason.

When Hunt heard about the Brewer Wal-Mart opening last year he decided to apply. He started when the store opened. Tim Champine, store co-manager, said Hunt makes people smile when they come into Wal-Mart.

“He’s very pleasant,” Champine said about Hunt. “He’s reliable and is doing a fine job for us here as a customer greeter. He does like to talk.”

The Bangor Daily News is profiling people age 70 and older who choose to remain in the work force. We welcome suggestions for people to profile. Contact us at 990-8138 or e-mail bdnnews@bangordailynews.net.