Following a career spanning over six decades, a Wiscasset resident is looking forward to retirement.
After a 62-year real estate career, Roy Farmer, 88, of Wiscasset, is planning on retiring from the industry at the end of October.
To mark his long career and many years of service to the community, a celebration will be held on Friday, Oct. 16.
The celebration is planned to go from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Water’s Edge banquet facility in Edgecomb.
Looking back on his career, Farmer said one of his favorite parts of being a real estate agent was the opportunity it gave him to meet a wide variety of people.
“I’m going to miss meeting people every day. You meet somebody new every day in this job,” Farmer said.
For the last 62 years he has worked out of his office next to the Wiscasset Post Office on Main Street, showing a number of properties throughout Lincoln County.
He also said he has enjoyed working in the Wiscasset area and throughout Lincoln County, noting he has no plans to leave the area once he retires.
“This is my home,” Farmer said.
Farmer was recently recognized for his career in the industry, receiving the Lincoln County Realtor of the Year recognition in 2014 from the Maine Association of Realtors.
He said it was a nice feeling to be recognized by his peers for his work.
“I certainly did appreciate it,” Farmer said.
Farmer spoke of a number of changes in the industry since he became a licensed real estate agent in 1954 and said the real estate market has seen its fair share of high and low points since he opened his agency.
“It certainly has changed over the years,” Farmer said.
In addition to his long career in real estate, Farmer became a licensed insurance agent in 1953.
He purchased Hawes Insurance Agency, of Wiscasset, in 1953.
The agency merged with Carl M.P. Larrabee Agency in 1963.
Farmer said in the 1950s the two fields worked in conjunction with one another, leading to his certification in both.
“In those days the two jobs were often together,” Farmer said.
On the real estate side of his career, the business started out as a one-man operation, Roy E. Farmer, Realtor, but grew over the years to become Roy Farmer Associates.
Though the agency was sold in 2009, Farmer has continued to work as a full-time broker at Carleton Realty’s Wiscasset office.
His long-standing ties to Lincoln County pre-date his time as a young professional in the early 1950s.
Prior to becoming an insurance agent, Farmer graduated from Wiscasset Academy in 1944 and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Maine at Orono in 1951.
In the interim, Farmer served in the U.S. Army.
He was drafted upon turning 18 in 1945 and served his tour of duty in Germany in the constabulary forces for his full tour.
Farmer is a lifetime member of the Maine Association of Realtors and a Realtor emeritus with the National Association of Realtors.
Farmer has also committed time to civic affairs, serving as a state representative from 1957 to 1959 in the 98th Maine Legislature.
The 98th session of the Maine Legislature first convened on Jan. 2, 1957 with Farmer joining E. Ashley Walter Jr., of Waldoboro, and George D. Rankin Jr., of Southport, to represent Lincoln County in the Legislature.
Farmer also served 30 years as Lincoln County bail commissioner, 28 years as Lincoln County register of probate, and 25 years as a trustee for the Wiscasset School District, in addition to time as a Wiscasset selectman.
He is a founder and former vice president of the Wiscasset Industrial Development Corp. and a corporator of the Wiscasset Public Library and Bath Savings Institution.
In 2001 he was named Maine Businessman of the Year by the National Republican Congressional Committee and was honored at the State House in April of the same year.
Farmer is currently a Mason and a member of the American Legion and the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association.
Though Farmer said he had no specific plans for his upcoming retirement, he did not think he would have any trouble finding something to do with the new found free time.
He has kept busy over the past decades and he is looking forward to spending his free time enjoying the outdoors.
“I am looking forward to doing some hunting and fishing again,” Farmer said.
