Longtime Northville Twp. public servant retiring after 30 years

After 30 years as a Northville Township public servant, Firefighter/Paramedic Hugh Jordan III is stepping away from the family business.

He will retire this month after nearly 23 years in the fire service and seven years with the Water & Sewer Department.

His final shift is Feb. 14.

The significance of his Valentine’s Day retirement date is poetic. He puts his heart into helping people, whether it’s rescuing a woman from a four-story building fire, sweet talking his former Boy Scout leader to head to the hospital or writing a book about Northville history.

He’s done them all, some more than once.

“It’s a wonderfully rewarding job when you look back at the different things that you did and how you can impact somebody’s life,” Jordan said.

Jordan has called the Northville community his home his entire life. He grew up here, riding his bike past farms and on dirt roads, most notably Six Mile.

He graduated from Northville High School in 1990, the same year he became a volunteer firefighter for the City of Northville, where his grandfather and three uncles worked at the time.

Answering the Call to Serve

Jordan’s Northville Township employment story began in 1996, when he joined the Water & Sewer Department as a Technician II.

He frequently found himself in the driver’s seat of backhoes and other heavy equipment, looking like a hero to his two sons, Zachary and Alexander.

The firehouse kept calling him, though. After falling in love with public service, Jordan was hired as a full-time Northville Township firefighter June 2, 2003, later adding paramedic duties as the department grew and advanced.

During his tenure, he joined the Fire Department’s honor guard, was a union steward for 10 years and graduated from Staff & Command School in 2016.

Service to hometown this long a rare feat

He will be missed, noted Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Marcotte.

“Serving your hometown for three decades is something few people get to experience,” Marcotte said. “Hugh did so with great pride throughout his career, and we recognize and honor that service as he begins this next chapter.”

Because of his work history with Water & Sewer, he quickly became a valuable resource for the Fire team, noted Fire Capt. Greg Ryan, who has worked with Jordan all but the first year of Jordan’s career as a full-time firefighter.

“When we needed clarification on the water system or hydrant locations, Hugh is the one who everyone went to,” Capt. Ryan said. “He also has a scary memory of street and address locations that only someone that spent as much time as Hugh in the Northville community would know.

“He used this knowledge to validate our map books which are used to respond on emergency calls.”

Happy to help

“It’s a family business,” Jordan said. “It’s a true calling.”

That “family business” runs deep. Jordan credits his great-grandfather for sparking a multigenerational tradition of service, with family members serving as firefighters and police officers across the region. By Jordan’s estimate, his family’s combined public- service legacy totals more than 389 years, stretching back to 1927.

With Jordan’s retirement, he says he becomes the last in a long line of relatives who served the Northville community continuously since 1960.

“That’s bittersweet for me,” he said.

Writing Northville’s History

Jordan doesn’t just save lives and cats stuck up in trees – there have been multiple.

After hours, he saves history.

He published his first book in 2017, documenting the 150-year history of the Northville Police Department, where his grandfather and father worked. He later partnered with the Northville Historical Society and Dr. Steven Quay on his second baby – all 7 pounds, 6 ounces of it.

This 618-page tome explores Northville’s homes, buildings and stories from 1950 to 1980. It was published in September 2023.

“This book project is about the homes and buildings of Northville from 1950 to 1980 and fun facts of people that lived in them,” Jordan said. “Many books have been written about Northville, but this book is more for the Baby Boomer generation and the things they experienced.”

Jordan also pens stories as a freelance writer and shares his historical knowledge as a public speaker. He is online, too, as administrator of the Facebook group People Who Grew Up in Northville, Michigan.

Shaping the Future

Retirement won’t mean slowing down. Jordan plans to continue teaching and mentoring the next generation of public safety professionals.

First, he’ll begin closer to home with one of his own. His oldest son, Zachary, is currently studying criminal justice. He wants to be a police officer, something Jordan and his wife, Tracy, who works for the Farmington Hills Police Department, fully support.

Jordan will continue instructing high school students through the firefighter program at John Glenn High School via the William D. Ford Career-Technical Center and the Wayne-Westland Community Schools. This is a passion he’s discovered in the past few years.

Soon he will begin a new role with Emergency Response Solutions, Inc. (ERSI) as an instructor, training adult learners in industrial fire and emergency response.

He can’t give the fire industry up.

“I still loved coming to work,” Jordan said. “But I’m ready for the next chapter and to eep giving back in a different way.”

He’s ready to write a new history.

Thank you to Northville Township Communications Director Rene Wisely for contributing this excellent article to Social House News.