ISLAND FALLS, Maine — The town’s oldest resident was honored Saturday on her 100th birthday with the presentation of the Boston Post Cane. Helen L. Sherman received the cane surrounded by family and friends at the Island Falls Baptist Church.
Island Falls has maintained the tradition of presenting the Boston Post Cane to oldest citizens for generations. The cane was given back to the town some time in the 1990s and it was decided that the Historical Society would care for it.
Through a series of moves the cane was reportedly stored in the Jail House Museum of the Society. It was unseen for about eight years, with no one remembering what had been done with it, according to Becky Drew, president of the Island Falls Historical Society.
The cane was discovered in the fall of 2008 lying in the back of a display case and has since been given to the town’s eldest resident.
Sherman received congratulatory notes from former President George W. Bush (who shares the same birthday as Sherman), Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Mike Michaud, as well as a sentiment from the Maine Legislature.
“I can’t get over so many people turning out for me,” Sherman said. “Thank you so much from this old lady.”
Sherman, who still has her driver’s license, said she enjoyed seeing so many family members from around the state come visit on her special day.
“My advice to younger people … live in Island Falls,” she said.
Among the previous cane holders in Island Falls were Alice Smith Leavitt, Frank Duguay, Talmedge Strait, Herbert Mathers, Nancy Sewall Cunningham, Mary Erskine Palmer, Wilson F. Palmer, Clara Campbell Hathaway, Mildred Cameron Kennard and Helen Mitchell Sherman.
A brief history of the Boston Post Cane, is as follows:
On Aug. 2, 1909, Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, Publisher of the Boston Post, a newspaper, forwarded to the Board of Selectmen in 700 towns (no cities included) in New England a gold-headed ebony cane with the request that it be presented with the compliments of the Boston Post to the oldest male citizen of the town, to be used by him as long as he lives (or moves from the town), and at his death handed down to the next oldest citizen of the town. The cane would belong to the town and not the man who received it.
The custom of the Boston Post Cane took hold in those towns lucky enough to have canes. As years went by some of the canes were lost, stolen, taken out of town and not returned to the Selectmen or destroyed by accident.
In 1930, after considerable controversy, eligibility for the cane was opened to women as well.
