Retirement at its Best
By Sandy Balayan
July 2025
Retirement agrees with Jim Higgins. After talking to him, I think that life agrees with him. As the only dentist in town for many years, Jim decided in 2016 it was time to move on. What is interesting about Jim’s retirement though is that he still is busy almost every day with either dentistry or in the winter, ski patrol, both things he did prior to retirement. In the summer you can find Jim on the reservoir fishing, or he’s hiking or biking. He loves to travel and he, along with his wife Marilee, pursues many different passions and doesn't waste a single moment of life.
PHOTO: Jim and his wife, Marilee in Lubec, Maine. Photo by Cliff Higgins
What Jim misses the most about his dental practice is seeing the members of the Otis community on a daily basis. Being a family practice, Jim had the great privilege of watching young children grow into adults and serving their families. Between Marilee running the office and Jim at the dental chair, they knew practically everyone in town. “I started cutting down from five to four days, then to three, and then two and then it became economically unfeasible to just support the office for one or two days a week. That is when I moved on,” says Jim.
His retirement brought a gift to Volunteers in Medicine, VIM, a group that provides medical services for people without insurance. One day a week for the last nine years, Jim spends the entire day working on dental issues for the patients who seek help at VIM. Jim said VIM is very satisfying and “because I don’t enjoy the business end of practicing dentistry, it is refreshing to work with people and not worry about compensation of any sort to keep my doors open.” VIM relies on the medical community to help provide their expertise and Jim is honored to be part of this organization.
As a member of the national ski patrol since 1962, Jim, an avid skier, trains other potential ski patrol members and has served as a patrol member at Otis Ridge and other ski resorts. He tends to ski more on his own over the last couple years but still enjoys helping injured skiers when he is on patrol. “I remember taking people that hurt themselves at Otis Ridge right over to Dr. Erbe, and he would stitch them up or take an x-ray. I was good for at least three stitches a year which Dr. Erbe did. I have to admit though, I was braver than he was in my dental chair,” laughs Jim.
Jim is really a jack of all trades. He enjoys puttering and projects and using his undergraduate experience as an engineering major to solve problems. Jim realized that he would be drafted within six months of graduating with his engineering degree, so he took matters into his own hand, and enlisted in the Air Force to fly, a special interest of his. It took three years of training to be combat ready and Jim flew for seven years. He was a forward air controller, acquiring targets and directing aircraft to a ground reference he established. He loved flying but resigned his commission to go to dental school, but later joined the Air Force Reserve where he could practice dentistry with other dentists and work with the state of the art dental equipment the Reserves had.
Jim’s path to dentistry had to do with Marilee’s father, also a dentist. He joined forces with him and then later struck out on his own in Otis. And are we glad he did. What an amazing dentist and person and we are lucky to have someone like this in our community. Continue enjoying your active lifestyle and we wish you and Marilee only the best in the years to come.
