NEW SWEDEN, Maine — The Town of New Sweden recently bestowed the Boston Cane to 97-year-old Mary Sirois.
The Boston Cane is a tradition that dates back to 1909, when Edwin Grozier, owner of the Boston Post newspaper, started creating gold-tipped canes and giving them to the selectmen of New England towns. The officials would then present them to their town’s oldest living man. In 1930, New England towns started awarding the cane to women as well.
The tradition is over a century old, and many New England towns have stopped participating. The town of New Sweden, however, is proud to maintain this tradition and honor their residents.
Mary Sirois was born in Caribou in 1918 as Mary Dickinson. She was the seventh child in her family, with four brothers and five sisters.
“She married my Dad when she was 20,” said Sirois’ daughter Gloria Ouillette, “and they had five children. Dad (Walter Sirois) passed away in 1998.”
“Mom enjoyed staying home and taking care of her family,” said Ouillette. “She was a wonderful cook. She loved to play games, especially Yahtzee, and she was good at it. She is still very good at games, and enjoyed crossword puzzles until her eyesight started failing.” Sirois has eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, and has survived all of her siblings.
Sirois’ childhood home burned down when she was in high school, and her family eventually moved to another home on the same road.
“She boarded with a family in town and worked for her keep as she was going to school,” said Ouillette. “When she was going to school, she boarded with her aunt in Lincoln.”
Ouillette says that, despite her mother’s age, she still helps out with firewood by operating the hydraulic pump on the log splitter.
“She always comments on the fact that she has seen so many changes in her lifetime,” adds Ouillette. “When she was young, they didn’t have lights, TV, or a vehicle. She remembers listening to the radio before they had a TV. She thinks computers are quite magical. She can’t imagine how you can even create and send, or print, a birthday card over the computer.”
