Hires joins team REMAX

By Deborah Rafford
Special to Pioneer Times
    Diane Hires is a woman on the move! Born in Portland, one of seven siblings, she was raised in Rockwood (Moosehead Lake Region). “So I am a Mainer,” says Hires.
Pioneer Times photo/Deborah Rafford
BORN TO SELL — Diane Hires of New Limerick has recently opened the Houlton branch office for REMAX/Central real estate service, a national firm. Also working out of the southern Aroostook office is Greg Miller of Houlton.
    “One of my earliest sales jobs was selling worms and blocks of ice to fishermen at the ice house from dawn to dusk. Her dad was a Maine guide, trapper, hunter, etc., so she really knows Maine.
    Looking for a better life and education for his family, her father moved them to Connecticut, where once again, Hires found herself selling fruit and vegetables from the family stand. She has always been around people and loves to interact with them. She feels like she was born to sell.
    While attending Dale Carnegie classes, she was invited to facilitate training courses as well as sales and interpersonal skills which led to a job as sales manager of the largest egg company in Connecticut, selling to major chain stores in the area.
    Always a lover of animals, Hires was taken aback when she met a beautiful baby chimpanzee in a New Jersey pet shop. She combined her marketing skills with her ability to diversify and became the owner and trainer of “Cammie, The Super Chimp”, the world’s only golf-playing chimp. This endeavor took her on tour throughout the U.S. and Bermuda, attending trade shows, golf tournaments, and other promotional events. Hires and Cammie appeared with Johnny Carson on the ‘Tonight Show’, with golf great, Lee Trevino, on the golf circuit, the Captain Kangaroo Show, and with Jerry Lewis and Buddy Hackett, to name a few.
    Cammie passed away in 1984, while undergoing dental surgery. It was a devastating time for the whole family. Hires needed some healing time, so she left to visit relatives in Florida. Not long afterwards, she got a job as an animal trainer for Sea World, a great healing time and a wonderful experience.
    Having an impressive ability to unite customer and vendor, and a keen eye for detail, she focused on the industrial sales field. Utilizing her contacts that she developed from shows with Cammie, a new company, ‘Diane Hires Enterprises,’ was formed. It was a manufacturing representative company specializing in the metal finishing industry, calling on Fortune 500 Companies in aerospace — nuclear and general — throughout the Northeastern U.S. She was responsible for increasing manufacturing sales 25 to35 percent annually.
    A desire to slow down a bit and beautiful memories of Maine, Hires decided to relocate, and came to Houlton to be with her sister, Gloria. She thought she would find something in her field here, and was surprised to find very little industry here.
    In New York, Hires had her real estate license with Caldwell Banker. With that experience, she was very happy to join forces with Becky Day at First Choice Real Estate, and enjoyed six-plus years with record sales.
    Recently, Hires has joined a national company, REMAX/CENTRAL with a branch office at 76 Main Street, here in Houlton. She is excited to be with a major real estate company and invites residents to stop by and say ‘hello.’
    Hires and her husband, Bill, live in New Limerick with their four dogs and three cats.
    Editor’s note: Next week we will profile the other half of the Houlton REMAX CENTRAL team; Greg Miller.