One lucky guy
Fireman, policeman, lineman — Ed Haman has done it all during his career with the city of StanhopeBy Billie Shelton, Daily Freeman-Journal Writer
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Ed Haman says he's a lucky guy.
"I got to do all the things I like, and I got paid for it," he points out. "I always wanted to be a lineman, I always wanted to be a fireman, and I always wanted to be a policeman. I've always liked heavy equipment-digging and stuff like that-and that's what you do around here."
"Around here," for Haman, is the town of Stanhope, which he's been taking care of since 1970. In a bigger place, his title would be town maintenance superintendent, and he'd have guys working with him, but in Stanhope he's the whole department. And just about everyone knows him as the "town man."
Haman, who grew up north of Stratford, was just in his early 20s when he took the job with the town, after working at the local Standard gas station. "I had two days of training, and then they turned the town over to me," he recalls of the time when just about every little town had an employee like him. "Now I'm one of the few left in the state who does everything for the town. There used to be lots of us, but not anymore."
Doing everything means water, streets, and electricity. Even in a little town, that's more than enough to keep one man busy. He has also done police work. "With this job, you never know what you'll be doing from one hour to the next," Haman notes. "It might be mowing, repairing a water main, or up on a line. And you have to be here every day to check things."
Now 64, Haman plans to retire from city employment at the end of October. During a recent visit over a cup of coffee in the city office, he reflected back over his long stint keeping the town of Stanhope in good shape. "It's been a good career. I'd do it again," he says, adding that after four decades he feels a lot of ownership over the community.
That could be because there have been some big projects in Stanhope while he's been on the town payroll: a new fire station in 1970, a new state highway 17 through town in the mid-1970s, a new water treatment plant in 1983, a new storm sewer in 1994, and sewer installed in the southeast section of town in 2001. "And I changed out many, many water lines, too," he points out.
Haman is proud of the local fire department, too, and is quick to point out the improvements and additions in equipment there since he's been around. Stepping down as chief after 41 years, he will still be on the department. "All of us on the fire department do it to help people, not for the money," he says, obvious when he adds that his pay for being chief is $126 per year, increased from $120 per year when he started. Plus all the firemen get call pay, which used to be $2 per call but is now at $20.
It may be difficult to let someone else watch over "his" town now that he's retiring, yet Haman admits there are definitely some aspects of the job he won't miss at all, like repairing the damages from an ice storm or fixing a water main break in the winter time. Cold water and mud isn't fun at 30 degrees below zero, he report. And for him there won't be any more snow plowing at midnight.
Just as difficult for this town man as those jobs have been the episodes of tragedy in Stanhope where Haman has been involved. "When you have to inform someone that their family member has been killed in an accident or help with a suicide, it bothers you," Haman recounts. "I think about it a lot afterwards."
Such tasks are not on his job description, but they're part of what have made Haman the go-to man around Stanhope for four decades. That and the fact that he quietly handles what comes his way. "Don't be timid in this job," he recommends. "Do your best, and do it again till it's right. Learn by doing." And, yes, he does feel like he's made a difference through his job.
As long-time Stanhope mayor said about the well-known, versatile town man: "If Stanhope was a body, Ed would be the heart."
