Ayer & Goss Fuel

The origin of Ayer & Goss dates back to the 1930s. The original business was owned by H.L. Holmes & Son, who owned a funeral home and also sold fuel oils, coal, insurance, and ran the town’s only ambulance service. Ben Ayer, a farmer in Henniker, supplemented his farming income by hauling and delivering oil for H.L. Holmes & Son. He was also called on to drive the company’s tractor trailers, delivery trucks, ambulance, and hearse.  When H.L. Homes & Son came up for sale in 1963, Ben partnered with Ken Holt to buy the business and renamed it Ayer & Holt. A year later, Don Goss Sr. became Ben’s partner when Ken Holt sold his share of the business to run the Holt Funeral Home. Ayer & Goss provided fuel oil and propane to Henniker and surrounding communities.  Skip McKean, Ben’s son-in-law, started delivering oil for Ayer & Goss part-time, fueling highway construction equipment for the construction of Routes 89 and 202 and Route 101. Soon after, he became a full-time Ayer & Goss employee. When Don Goss left in 1972 to work in his family’s lumber business, Skip became Ben’s partner.  Ben retired in 1986 to spend more time on his duties for the Henniker Fire Department. He served as fire chief from 1969 to 2004. Because of his involvement with the community, Ben was named Henniker’s “Citizen of the Year” in 1994.  fillingupIn 1988, Skip McKean fulfilled his life-long dream of driving a tractor trailer and began transporting fuel oils and gasoline for Ayer & Goss and other companies under a new business, Skip McKean Petroleum Transport. He now has five full-time drivers and three owner-operators in the winter.  Today Skip and Carolyn McKean own Ayer & Goss and Skip McKean Petroleum Transport, and work with family members Bill McKean, Kate Greene, Amy McKean, and Janet Higginson. At Ayer & Goss, all of our employees are part of our family.  We are all dedicated to providing friendly, efficient service to our customers.

Automatic Delivery

With our automatic fuel delivery program, our customers don’t have to worry about running out of heating oil and incurring run-out fees.