The Jefferson Selectmen followed a 101-year-old New England tradition Monday when they presented a gold-tipped, ebony cane to the town’s eldest citizen, Rebecca Preston.
“It’s beautiful,” said Mrs. Preston, 106, a spry woman who still plays solitaire on the computer, according to her daughter, Martha Scudder of Damariscotta.
After a moment, she looked up at the crowd and smiled. “Well, who is going to pass out the sandwiches?”
The Jefferson Selectmen and friends gathered at the Preston home to witness the cane presentation and enjoy some sandwiches and cookies to celebrate the occasion.
Unlike other 300 towns still maintaining the tradition, including some in Lincoln County, the Jefferson cane was a not a gold-tipped, “Boston Post” cane.
The original Boston Post cane was a circulation promotion for a newspaper.
In 1909, Edwin A. Grozier, the publisher of The Boston Post, a newspaper that ceased publication in 1957, passed out 700 of the canes to towns in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. The canes were to be presented to the town’s oldest citizen, but ownership was to be maintained by the town’s Selectmen.
The tradition in Jefferson holds that the town’s Boston Post cane perished in a house fire years ago.
Several months ago, the town revived the tradition, when Fran Williamson donated a gold-tipped cane, a family heirloom, to the town.
“It was my husband’s father’s cane,” Williamson said as she observed the latest ceremony.
Williamson said her husband, Arthur Williamson II, was the son of Pliny Williamson, a state senator from Westchester County, New York. The fancy gold-tipped cane belonged to “the Senator.”
“It seemed right to donate the cane to the town,” she said.
Town officials agreed and arranged to keep the cane at the town office in a special maple case built for the occasion. The display will include photos of the recipients and Arthur Williamson.
The presentation was a special treat for Mrs. Preston and the dozen well-wishers, who gathered at her home for the event.
Fran Williamson explained to the crowd, that Arthur Williamson’s first wife, Elizabeth, was a close friend of Mrs. Preston.
The mention of the name Elizabeth seemed to startle the guest of honor who asked for a tissue.
After a moment of silence, she told the crowd: “I loved Elizabeth. She was a dear, dear friend.”
