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Florida Awards Town's First-Ever Boston Post Cane
By Rebecca Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
03:32PM / Friday, December 05, 2014
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Agnes Rivers, the oldest resident of Florida, was accompanied by her husband of 76 years, Francis.


Agnes Rivers, who is turning 100 years old on Jan. 1, 2015, was given the Boston Post Cane for the town of Florida on Friday for being the town's oldest resident.

FLORIDA, Mass. — The year was 1915. Gas was only 20 cents a gallon, fueling the one-millionth Model T car put on the road by the Ford Motor Car Company. Alexander Graham Bell called from New York to San Francisco, while mailing a letter from one place to another cost only a 2-cent stamp.

Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday were born - and so was Agnes Rivers, born Agnes Guertin.

Actually, Rivers preceded most of that, having been born on Jan. 1, 1915. In recognition of her upcoming 100th birthday, which makes her the oldest resident of Florida, Rivers was presented with the town's first Boston Post Cane during a Florida Council on Aging holiday luncheon and celebration on Friday.

The Boston Post Cane is a tradition that dates back to the 1909, when the owners of the Boston Post gave 200 ornate, golden-tipped canes to the largest New England towns to give to each town's oldest living man. The custom was expanded to include a community's oldest women in 1930. Many towns in New England still carry on the Boston Post cane tradition, including Williamstown.

Even with that long history, Florida has never presented a cane to any resident, said Fran Bedini, chairwoman of the Florida Council on Aging. The idea arose in group's November meeting as something special to do to honor Rivers.

On Friday, the cane that was presented to Rivers was not an original Boston Post Cane; it was actually handcrafted by Florida resident Stanley Brown in one weekend after he was asked to create one. A sturdy wooden cane, it looks like it could be especially handy for a 99-year-old woman who tries to walk outside her home for 10 minutes every day.

Except this 99-year-old woman doesn't need it at all.

"I'm not handicapped in any way," Rivers said after she was surprised with the award at the luncheon. "It will be a nice souvenir from the town of Florida."

Sitting next to her husband of 76 years, Rivers said she didn't feel like she was about to turn 100.

"I feel really good for my age," she said. "I'm very grateful."

Bedini said the cane belonged to Rivers as long as she lived and as long as she lived in the town of Florida. Rivers, who has lived in Florida for the last 35 years, was honored by the award presented by the fellow residents of the town she has no plans to leave.

"This is so nice for the people of Florda to do this for me," she said. "I'm going to be buried in Florida."

 

 

 

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