Boston Post Cane presented to Ronco

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    ABBOT — When Reginald “Reggie” Ronco was 13, he went to work in the woods near Caratunk with his father, manning a cross-cut saw. “After a while, they put me to work filing the saws for the crew. It was a lot easier,” he said with a smile. “Back in those days, they never asked for papers to prove your age. I was a big boy.”

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    BOSTON POST CANE — The town of Abbot presented the Boston Post Cane to Reginald “Reggie” Ronco on Oct. 16. Pictured, from left, are selectmen John Liberia, Mickey Knowles and Basil Patterson; and Town Clerk Lorraine Leeman.

    Ronco, who will celebrate his 92nd birthday on Oct. 28, was presented with the Boston Post Cane by the Abbot Board of Selectmen last week, designating him as the oldest resident in town.
    Like many in his generation, Ronco and his family were poor but scraped by, even during the Depression. “We lived in a shack. It was so cold in the winter that you could see the frost on the nails that came through the wall,” he recalled. “We didn’t have any money, but we had a lot of love. I remember my father looking for work and coming home in tears when he couldn’t find a job.”
    Reggie never had a chance to attend high school but served in the Army in World War II. “My first car was a 1932 Chevy coupe with a rumble seat. I remember seeing a television for the first time in 1946 in New Jersey, the year I got out of the service,” he said.
    He spent 27 years in the Garden State including 25 years as a professional firefighter with the Springfield (N.J.) Fire Department. He served as training officer for the department and later for the county, retiring as a captain at age 55.
    “It was stressful at times. I never got hurt, but I saw a lot of tragedy.”  But he added, with a grin, “I can now say that I’ve been retired for longer than I’ve worked.”
    After moving back to Maine, he worked for funeral director Peter Neal for a while and later became active in several churches in the area. He still enjoys gardening, hunting and fishing, spending time at the family camp on Moxie Pond and likes to read and study the Bible.
    Reggie and his late wife, Veronica, were married for 67 years and enjoyed winters in Myrtle Beach, S.C. for 30 years. She passed away in April.
    He has three sons — David, Mark and Tom — and four grandchildren. He now lives with his son, Tom and wife, Jan on Gales Road in Abbot.