Milk has been good for him. Really good. At soon-to-be 63 years old, Doug Hurlbutt has outlasted at least seven trucks and hasn't seen a sick day in over four decades. While his walk is labored and his health isn't as strong as he would like, the well-known milk deliveryman has demonstrated an almost unheard of work ethic. His streak of 60 hour weeks will be coming to an end soon as Hurlbutt will sell Hilton Dairy and semi-retire. Hurlbutt said he wants to focus some more energy on his family, especially his seven grandchildren with one more on the way. He plans to celebrate his retirement with his wife, Carolyn, and the families of his three sons, David, Phillip, and Matthew, by visiting Disney World this March. Carolyn, who hasn't experienced too many family vacations because of Doug's work schedule, is looking forward to it, but says once they get back she doesn't expect to see him sitting around the house much. "It will at least be nice to have him home at a decent hour, but I don't think he'll be around too much," said Carolyn. The lifelong Hilton resident has always been involved in the community outside of his normal 10-hour workday. He served on the village board in the 1960s and was mayor from 1969-1974. He was a fireman for the village for 15 years and has been active in the school district. His passion now is volunteering at St. Paul Lutheran Church, where he has attended ever since he was married. He has served on the Board of Elders, as President of the Congregation, on the Board of Education and on its Lay Ministry Team. The church was the first place Hurlbutt went when he started to think about what he would do as a semi-retired man. His work ethic has not been lost on his family. One of his sons, Phil, currently works for Kludt Brothers Farm in Kendall. Phil said his father's example sent a clear message. "We learned not to quit," said Phil. Sometimes that message came at a cost. "When we were kids, we never wanted a day off from school, because we knew we'd be peddling milk," he said. "I only remember one real, week-long vacation he took. I filled in for him and it was the most tired I've ever been." Hurlbutt's introduction to hard work began at the age of six when his grandmother made him a pillow that would allow him to reach the pedals of their farm tractor. Hurlbutt worked his grandfather Lawrence Wright's farm on Dunbar Road. He was a dedicated farm employee until he nearly lost his leg in an accident. Hurlbutt can remember June 16 just before his 16th birthday clearly. It was his run in with a mechanical lift that kept him in the hospital for his birthday, and it was that incident that motivated him to go to college. Hurlbutt attended Alfred State College and came back to the area to work for a tractor company in Hamlin and then another one in Hilton. In January 1959 he took a job at Pisher's Dairy in Spencerport and the following year he bought Rood's Dairy in Hilton. Soon he changed the name to Hilton Dairy - the company he has run all this time. Delivering milk door-to-door in his hometown has given Hurlbutt a pretty clear vantage point from which to observe changes in the community. Hurlbutt can recall hearing the fire alarm and looking out his window to see the most devastating fire in Hilton history as Main Street burned down. He can rattle off the stores that used to adorn the village's main strip and he is remorseful over the fact that you can no longer buy clothes and many other items in Hilton. Hurlbutt remembers agriculture's stronghold on the community, and when Hilton was truly the Apple Capital. "If someone had told me back then that there wouldn't be a canning factory in Hilton, I would have said 'You're crazy,' " he said. " Today I can go down Main Street and not see anyone I know, but that is pretty typical throughout small town USA." Sometimes making one of the deliveries to his nearly 250 customers resulted in memorable events. Hurlbutt recalls wading through snow banks as high as telephone wires. The winter blasts of 1966 and 1977 will forever give him a chill. Along the way he met many characters and was part of some interesting situations. Hurlbutt recalls hearing a cry for help coming from a house on his delivery route. The cry was from an older woman who had fallen into her bathtub and couldn't get out. To this day, he can still see the look on the mailman's face when Hurlbutt asked him for help to get the woman out of her bathtub. Hurlbutt said the biggest constant throughout his career has been his pleasure in interacting with his customers. Hurlbutt said he knows he will really miss many of his loyal customers. "I'm going to miss everyone," said Hurlbutt. "It is time to do something different, but I'm not sure what that is yet." |
