Recently three area residents have been honored publicly for their many years of living among us. The Boston Post Cane is shared by New England towns with elder members of communities who have approached a century of life on the planet. In some cases, I suspect, some recipients have been over 100 years old.

Larry Brown, who keeps close tabs on peninsula communities and the residents within, commented to me about the recognition given to three local gents who had heart surgery performed by one Dr. Fallon at Maine Medical. Larry indicated that three other local folks might well deserve some recognition as well, not that they haven’t. The three individuals who received the Boston Post Cane (photo above) are, indeed, special, and worthy of additional mention — Evelyn Sherman of Southport, Edgar Lewis of Trevett/Boothbay, and Dr. Barclay Shephard of Boothbay Harbor.

What interested me wasn’t the age of the recipients so much, but what is held in the memory trusts of their lives here. So I asked each of these individuals to share some of their earliest memories and here’s some of what they shared.

Evelyn Sherman was born at the old St. Andrews Hospital on Sept. 16, 1927, which in those days was a wooden building. "Dr. George Gregory brought me into the world when my mother refused to travel back to Malden, Massachusetts.

"My brother, Earl 'Gus' Pratt worked hard to be a character all his life, but I’d hold it over him that I was born here and he wasn’t, so he’d never be a native.

"When I was a teenager, I had one of the original five Southport Yacht Club sailboats that were built by Herbert Decker. I sailed the Sheepscot River every day and my dog Spike would accompany me. One day, a whale breached near me and for the rest of the summer the kids nicknamed me whale bait.

"My parents, Earl Jr. and Evelyn Pratt, owned E.W. Pratt Mercantile (fondly known as The Alley by locals). In my youth I set up pins for three cents per string, but only for slow bowlers. When the payment went to five cents I thought I was rich! The Alley was open in the evening and everyone in the neighborhood would congregate there to socialize, eat, listen to the juke box, and bowl. My parents hired teenagers to work as pin boys setting up the candlepins in the evenings because the men were faster bowlers. Dad even had two doors installed that were covered with heavy wire to knock down the pins when they flew in the air."

From Edgar Lewis: “One of the earliest memories is when I was 5 and my house was being built by my father Isaac Lewis. It was around 1931. Me and my best friend, Corliss Hodgdon, used to hang around and watch. When they got to the blasting part of it they found a horse buried and we asked for the bones. The gentlemen working on the house told us we should take the bones home to our mothers because they would make a great soup. Needless to say, both our mothers kicked us out of the house.

"I went to school on Barters Island until high school. The Island school was a two-story building heated by a wood stove. The boys in the class had to lug wood. Edith Lewis used to make all the lunches for the kids. She lived in the house next door.

"Most of Hodgdon Island was owned by the Hodgdons. I traveled with Corliss, Red and Blanche Hodgdon. We used to do a lot of duck hunting with Red whose shed was always filled with ducks. During high school I decided to take a break and join the Marines. I took a train to Augusta to see Antone Bartik to enlist, but got turned down because I had a missing tooth. So I went and got a tooth put in and enlisted at 17 and was a reservist for the first year.

"Sawyers Island had only two year-round people in winter. All three islands were mostly dirt. The hot top only went to the Barters Island church. There used to be a path that started on the Sawyers Island bridge that you could walk along the shore for the whole island.

"After the Marines, four other local fellas and I came back to finish high school. That year I met my wife and the day we graduated we walked across the street which was School Street, and got married. I started Mill Cove fish business and had four sons.”

One comment Mr. Lewis made to me was quite moving. He said that after the war he took a troop train across country from California to Boston. When he smelled the salt air, he knew he was home.

Barclay Shephard was born in 1926 at St. Andrews Hospital, the son of Dr. Lorrin Shephard and Virginia Moffat Shephard, but when he was 1 year old, his parents moved to Turkey where his mother’s parents had been medical missionaries. When Barclay was 12 years old he returned to Boothbay Harbor to live with two aunts at the family property on Samoset Road purchased in the early 1900s by his maternal grandparents. Barclay’s grandfather, Dr. Edgar Moffat from Orange, New Jersey, on a sail with summer resident friend Dr. Grant Pennoyer, spotted the property, then a 65-acre dairy farm. Dr. Moffat visited and stayed with the farmer from time to time and eventually purchased the property which overlooks Moffat Cove, just in from the Southport bridge across from present day Ocean Gate Resort. 

Barclay cherished his role in his family’s love for Boothbay Harbor, cultivating deep roots as far back as he can remember.

Many thanks to all family members and friends who helped with my visit. It was an honor to learn more about the cane holders' memories.