HARRISON — Abbie Ethel Winslow, Harrison’s Boston Post cane holder for the past five years, has passed away.
Abbie was not the type of person to talk much about personal awards and accolades, but the fact that she had the engraved replica cane hanging above her bed at the nursing home said enough, said her son Bill Winslow.
Abbie passed away on January 12 at the age of 102 at Bella Point Fryeburg (formerly the Fryeburg Health & Residential Care Center,) where the replica cane was mounted to the wall.
The Boston Post Cane Award was started by the publisher of the Boston Post, Edwin A. Grozier, in 1909, seven years after Abbie was born. The canes were individually inscribed and sent to 700 town Boards of Selectmen in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. No cities were included and until 1930, only men could be recipients of the honor.
The Boston Post went out of business in 1957, but many of the original 700 canes continue to be presented to the oldest town residents.
Bill Winslow, then a selectmen in town, presented his then 97-year-old mother the cane as the oldest known Harrison resident at a ceremony held at the Town Office in September of 2013 surrounded by family and friends.
“I’ll be here next year,” Abbie had quipped at the time of the ceremony. And she was.
The Town Office has the original 120 year-old original gold-headed ebony cane in a locked display case. Today, many of the canes have been lost or are tucked away in town halls. Some are not given out because of the difficulty in determining who is the oldest resident. Others are retained for fear the cane will not be returned or will be lost.
Abbie was born in 1916 in Denmark and married Harry Winslow, who passed away in 2003, on Oct. 5 1939. She lived the next 73 years in Harrison, with the exception of a short time that she and Harry worked at Ram Island Farm in Cape Elizabeth. In addition to two sons and a daughter, she left 13 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren.
Town Clerk Clerk Melissa St. John said she will now begin the process of finding the current oldest resident by using the town’s voter registration list and word of mouth.
The last Harrison resident who had the cane before Abbie Winslow was 105-year-old Edna Lord. She held the honor for six years.
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