Fountain Tire Stalwart Retires

Fountain Tire said has said farewell to retiring Leroy Hawtin, senior vice president of Edmonton-based tire retail network.Hawtin’s career commenced in 1964 in Provost, Alberta where, at the age of 18, he became manager of the Provost Fountain Tire.Eight years after his start in Provost, Hawtin transferred to Fountain Tire’s head office in Edmonton where he worked for approximately 18 months as a store supervisor.Hawtin’s next move was back to Provost where he became a partner/owner in that operation.
Over the next 12 years Hawtin owned and managed stores in Lacombe, Ponoka and Camrose.In January, 1990 he sold his interest in store operations and relocated to head office.
During the years that Hawtin operated stores he trained and developed many of the existing storemanagers and indirectly trained and developed many new managers.
Brent Hesje, CEO of Fountain Tire, summed up Hawtin’s retirement best during his speech at the company’s annual convention. “Leroy’s retirement is the ultimate compliment he could offer us. He believes that the company is well positioned for the future.”
During his retirement Hawtin plans to do some fishing and hunting, but mostly just “take it easy” and catch up on some quality time with his wife, Bev, his children and grandchildren.
Fountain Tire has over 130 stores in Western Canada, and has been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies since 1994.