Madelyn Betts presented with Dover-Foxcroft Boston Post Cane

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — In recognition of being the eldest resident of Dover-Foxcroft, soon to be 102-year-old Madelyn Betts was presented with the Boston Post Cane by town officials and the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society during a ceremony on June 9 in the solarium at the Hibbard Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    DOVER-FOXCROFT’S MOST SENIOR CITIZEN — Madelyn Betts, a resident of Main Street West in Dover-Foxcroft, was presented with Dover-Foxcroft’s Boston Post Cane during a June 9 ceremony in the solarium at the Hibbard Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Betts, who will turn 102 on June 29, was joined at the presentation by her daughter and son-in-law Celeste and David W. Hyer of Otisfield.

    With her daughter and son-in-law Celeste and David W. Hyer of Otisfield present, Betts was first given a pair of framed certificates by Town Clerk Lisa Niles and Assistant Town Clerk Cindy Woodworth. “The first certificate that we have is called the Centurion Certificate,” Woodworth said. “Everyone that turns 100 years old in Dover-Foxcroft gets this certificate.” Niles read the second aloud, signifying Betts as the current holder of the Boston Post Cane.
    Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society President Mary Annis presented Betts with the cane, which will be housed by the historical society and a replica will be given to the recipients. “Madelyn on behalf of everyone in Dover-Foxcroft who loves you, I can think of no one else who deserves this more,” Annis said.
    On June 29 Madelyn Celeste (Ballard) Betts will turn 102. Betts was born in Garland in 1912, the only child of George W. and Grace (McComb) Ballard, and as a child she moved to the family home on Harrison Avenue.
    Betts is a 1930 National Honor Society graduate of Foxcroft Academy — she is one of the school’s oldest living alums — and she attended the Maine School of Commerce (now Husson University in Bangor). She was secretary at the Dover-Foxcroft School Department superintendent’s office and Foxcroft Academy for 17 years. She was one of the early organizers of the Maine School Secretaries’ Association and served as secretary and president. Betts later worked at the Lary Funeral Home and over 20 years for Robert G. Hall, antique dealer and appraiser.
    She married Earl H. Betts of Dover-Foxcroft in 1946. They had one daughter.
    Betts is a member of the Dover-Foxcroft Congregational Church, and served as organist for 27 years and church clerk for many years. She is a life member and was organist for 36 years for Miriam Chapter No. 40 Order of the Eastern Star, and she was twice appointed as Grand Organist for the Grand Chapter of Maine. Betts is also a life member of Wenonah Rebekah Lodge No. 11, serving as secretary for many years.
    Betts is a charter member of the Dover-Foxcroft Historical Society, serving as secretary, the Wassabec Genealogical Society and is a life member of the Maine Genealogical Society. She collected many local historical items and has done a lot of genealogical research of her family history. Betts was a member of the Thompson Free Library Association for 37 years, and is a member and past president of the Cosmopolitan Club and member of the Percolator Club.
    Past Boston Post Cane honorees in Dover-Foxcroft include Eva D. Smith, who turned 100 in 2000; Edith M. Pinkerton, on the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2002; Dorothy F. Greenlaw, who turned 100 in 2005; Bernard C. Bishop, who celebrated his 100th birthday in 2007; Mary (Hughes) Stuart in 2008 soon after she turned 101; Leona LaPointe Crawford who received the cane a few days after she celebrated her 100th birthday in 2010; and Alice Shepardson who was presented with the cane at the age of 101 in 2012.
    The cane was manufactured especially to be the Boston Post Cane for Dover-Foxcroft by J.F Fradley & Co. of New York out of carefully selected ebony from the African Congo. The head is made of 14 karat rolled gold engraved with the words “Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest citizen of Dover-Foxcroft.”
    The tradition of presenting a cane to the oldest member of a community started in 1909 when Boston Post publisher Edwin A. Grozier forwarded 700 of the items to towns across New England. According to the Boston Post Cane website (ttp://canequest.com/boston-post.asp), the 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. In 1930 cane eligibility was extended to women.