On Sunday afternoon, 98-year-old Madelyn Klose was awarded The Boston Post Cane, an honor bestowed upon the oldest citizen in town. 

Antrim received the ebony and gold cane in 1909. It was one of 700 canes The Boston Post gave to towns in New England to increase circulation outside of the Boston area. The cane was meant to be presented to the oldest citizen in town and kept until they died, at which point it would be returned to the town and passed to the next-oldest resident.

To be eligible to be awarded the cane, a person must have resided in Antrim for at least 15 years. Antrim Historical Society President Bill Nichols spoke about the history of the cane and about Klose, who sat in the front row and is the first person to receive the town’s cane since 2007. One of Antrim’s recipients, Eva Cutter, was concerned her family would overlook the cane and not return it to town after she died. A substitute cane was made by local craftsman Donald Dunlap, and now the substitute cane is given to the oldest resident and the original cane stays in the Antrim Historical Museum. 

Klose was born in 1925 in Brunswick, Maine. She lived in Holliston, Mass., and attended Gordon College. She and her husband, Paul, lived in Chicago and in North Adams, Mass., where they served at the First Baptist Church. She was ordained in 1977. In 2003, Klose moved to Antrim. She has been active in the Antrim Baptist Church and continues to knit and give away prayer shawls and baby blankets. 

Nichols said Klose has lived through the Great Depression, remembers Pearl Harbor and lost a brother who served in the military in World War II. 

“She’s lived through 17 U.S. presidents,” said Nichols, “She grew up with basically no technology except a big radio in the living room.”

Klose’s family didn’t have a phone until she was in high school.

“Now she has Facebook, email and a cellphone,” Nichols said. 

Klose has four children, 16 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren.

Select Board Chair John Robertson awarded the cane to Klose.

“We applaud and honor the longevity of Madelyn,” Robertson said, “She joins an elite group of Antrim residents.”

After Klose received the cane, she said when she moved to Antrim, she learned some interesting facts about her family history. She’s related to the Curtis family and the Tuttle family, the namesake for the town library. Both families are buried in the town cemetery. 

“We are true New Englanders for sure,” Klose said. “ I guess we have come home.”

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