Louis Marcotte, 92, honored as new owner
OXFORD – Ninety-two-year-old Louis Marcotte didn’t need to lean on the Boston Post Cane that was handed to him Wednesday by head Selectman David Ivey.
It was too short for him, anyway. Besides, he has his own cane at home, at his farmhouse on Tiger Hill Road where he gets around just fine with the help of his two sons, Leon and Roger. There, at the same place where he was born in 1911, Marcotte tends a large garden in the summer.
“I want to thank everybody for this honor, and I hope I can live a few more years,” Marcotte told the gathering at the Oxford Public Safety Building.
The cane was presented to honor Marcotte as Oxford’s oldest citizen at the monthly dinner meeting of the Oxford County Municipal Officers Association.
On hand to present it was Town Manager Michael Huston, Ivey, and selectmen Dennis Sanborn, Roger Smedberg and Floyd Thayer.
“I just hope I do as good as you when I get old,” Ivey said in admiration.
Oxford’s Boston Post Cane is one of 431 stylish walking sticks made available to northeastern municipalities by the now long-defunct Boston Post newspaper, according to an Internet site.
The newspaper reportedly hired a leading cane manufacturer in New York to craft the canes out of African-imported wood and to gild the tips of each with 14 carat gold. Some towns that received the cane have lost track of them over time.
Ivey said Marcotte’s cane will be displayed in a case in the town hall lobby with a plaque bearing his name.
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