Mickey Huttges, the beloved meat man from St. Martins, died Thursday night. Here, he is seen sitting outside his store with a wooden carving he called Herbie. He saw the carving and loved it so much he bought it.
The proprietor of the historical village's century-old country store and one of New Brunswick's most colourful characters, Huttges died suddenly Thursday night at his home in Henry Lake following a typically long day behind the meat counter at Huttges General Merchants. He was 67.
Known as Mickey the Meat Man, over the course of four decades he had become famous for his home-made sausage and home-spun humour, and had customers from all over the province and New England. It wasn't uncommon for some to travel long distances to fill their coolers and be entertained, always leaving with a smile on their face.
"People came not only for his groceries, sausage and meats, but for Mickey himself,'' Rodney Weston said Friday as he stood in the store, where friends and customers gathered after learning of his passing. "He was an institution in St. Martins.
"This was so sudden, so unexpected, such a shock. It is going to leave a big hole in the community. He is really going to be missed."
A native New Brunswicker, he learned to be a butcher by watching his father, Henry Huttges Sr., and grew up working in his dad's meat stall at the City Market in Saint John. As much a part of St. Martins' charm as its shipbuilders' houses, he had run Huttges General Merchants since the 1960s with the exception of a brief period when he helped with the construction of Point Lepreau.
For the last year he had been renovating the store, which still has its original tin ceilings, and soon planned to move into an apartment above it with his long-time partner, Cherri Wilson. He was previously married to Betty MacMillan, the manager of business development for the Port of Saint John and mother of his four children, sons Colin, Peter and Billy and daughter, Denyse, an actress and movie producer in Hollywood who uses the professional name Cayman Grant.
He also is survived by his twin brother, Jim Huttges, St. Martins' mayor.
"The store isn't going to be the same without him,'' said Betty Jones, an employee for 10 years. "He would give you the shirt off his back. He was the most kind-hearted soul I ever met."
Funeral arrangements were not complete on Friday, but undoubtedly there will be an outpouring. The parking lot outside the store was crowded in the afternoon as stunned customers came to visit, and inside, the phone rang almost constantly.
They were terribly sad, but smiled as they exchanged anecdotes.
"I used to tell people that Mickey had an opinion, and you heard it whether you wanted to or not,'' Weston said.
The area's former MLA and most recent Member of Parliament, Weston recalled Mickey Huttges' gift for gab, love of politics and disdain for politicians. A Tory, Weston recalled once asking Huttges, an ardent Liberal, to support him.
"He stopped short and stared at me and said, 'Let me think about it'," Weston said. "Next time I came in, he asked if I had a membership card for him to sign and he did.
"He became a terrific supporter."
A man who loved to pontificate, Mickey would often meet people at the door and follow them around the aisles, talking and arguing.
"He would escort them around, walk them out the door and then follow them to their cars,'' Jones said. "They'd be driving away and he'd still be talking.
"That was Mickey."
Once a baseball player for the St. Martins Mets senior league team, he also loved to hunt and fish.
"You couldn't have gotten a better uncle,'' his nephew, Bruce Huttges, said Friday, his eyes pools of tears. "When I was a teenager and needed a vehicle, he would always lend me his car. He took all of us fishing.
"He was a special guy."
When she arrived for work on Friday, Jones found a photo of Mickey Huttges pinned to a community bulletin board outside the front door. The words, "You were the soul of St. Martins, Mickey, and you will always be with us" were written across the bottom.
"I still don't believe it,'' Allan Love, a longtime customer said, shaking his head. "We were friends for a long, long time.
"Everyone loved Mickey. He was a friend to everybody."
Marty Klinkenberg is the senior writer of the Telegraph-Journal
**On a personal note - these quotes are so Mickey. Our family will miss him greatly and our hearts go to his family and the community as they mourn the loss of a 2nd 'icon' of the community within 13 days of each other. RIP our friend we shall all miss our chats.** This photo was 'snapped' by chance on our last visit - of course he was always on the move so it's not very clear.
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