Westport
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
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Selectmen award Boston Post Cane for the second time in
2011.
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Lafrance Hospitality
Company announces the availability of the 2011-2012 Community Cares Coupon
booklets. EverythingWestport.com Wednesday, September 28, 2011 WESTPORT,
MA - Lafrance Hospitality Company announces that
the 2011-2012 Community Cares Coupons are available. These
coupon booklets are available every year through different United Way
agencies, as well as other deserving organizations. It is estimated that
since their inception over 16 years ago, the Community Cares program has
generated well over $285,000 to support programs throughout the area. The
coupons are a collaboration between Lafrance
Hospitality Company, WSAR, East Bay Newspapers, and the Pepsi Cola Bottling
Company. The
booklets are sold for $10 each, with the organization keeping 100% of the
proceeds to further its programs. The value of each booklet exceeds $600 in
discounts to Lafrance Hospitality properties, such
as White’s of Westport, Bittersweet Farm and the Westport Hampton Inn, as
well as other local businesses, such as Papa Gino’s, Subway, Domino’s Pizza,
New York Bagel, Honey Dew Donuts, and SpeeDee Oil
& Tune Up, and Cold Stone Creamery. In addition, several area attractions offer
discounts in the book, including the Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford Whaling
Museum, and King Richards Faire. The
books are available for purchase at all Lafrance
Hospitality Company properties. Lafrance
Hospitality is currently accepting applications from non-profit agencies who
wish to participate in the program. They are encouraged to write a letter
describing how the funds generated will be used. Write to: Meredith Milliner,
P.O. Box 248, Westport, MA, 02790; or via email at: mmilliner@lafrancehospitality.com.
Selectmen award Boston Post Cane
for the second time in 2011. EverythingWestport.com October
3, 2011 100-years-young
Yvette Landry was awarded the
Boston Post Cane on October 3rd in a touching presentation made by Selectmen,
the second such presentation in less than a year. Evelyn
Potuchek, presented the Boston Post Cane by
Selectmen on April 26th, passed away on July 31st. “This one we all wish we could get,” Board of Selectmen
Chairman Richard Spirlet said.
From the left:
Selectman Antone Vieira, Selectman Steve Ouellette,
Yvette Landry, and Selectman Craig Dutra. Landry
was born in New Bedford on September 9, 1911, the youngest of six children,
according to daughter Lynette Ouellette. She
was married to Armand Landry in June of 1929, and started her married life
facing the Great Depression. Like so many others, she survived those terrible
years, traveling with her husband, a professional magician. After
a few years, Armand opened up Landry's Magic and Joke Shop in the north end
of New Bedford. From
1965 through 1985 the couple owned and operated a souvenir shop at Lincoln
Park. Yvette
Landry is a communicant of Our Lady of Grace church. So
what does Yvette Landry owe to her long life?
"Hard work and staying involved," daughter Lynette said.
A promotional scheme that outlived the
promoter. On
August 2, 1909, Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, Publisher of
the Boston Post, a newspaper with national inspirations, forwarded to the
Board of Selectmen in 700 towns (no cities included) in New England a
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. Many
of the original 700 canes distributed by the Boston Post newspaper in 1909
have been lost or are in hiding, but Westport's cane is not among them. The
canes were all made by J.F. Fradley and Co., a New
York manufacturer, from ebony shipped in seven-foot lengths from the Congo in
Africa. They were cut to cane lengths, seasoned for six months, turned on
lathes to the right thickness, coated and polished. They had a 14-carat gold
head two inches long, decorated by hand, and a ferruled tip. The head was
engraved with the inscription, — Presented by the Boston Post to the oldest
citizen of (name of town) — “To Be Transmitted”. The
Board of Selectmen were to be the trustees of the cane and keep it always in
the hands of the oldest citizen. Apparently no Connecticut or Vermont towns
were included. - Courtesy of The Boston
Post Cane. According
to former Westport Selectmen Stewart Kirkaldy, the
grandson of the cane manufacturer (J.F. Fradley),
Peter Fradley, lives at Westport Point. No one is quite
sure when the cane was first presented in Westport, but the town has
maintained records of presentations dating back to 1945. Many
records were lost in a fire at the old town hall, and the cane's original
paperwork with the names of early recipients was among them. The
Boston Post has long been out of business, but of the original 700
distributed canes, 331 (as of 2011) are still
accounted for and continue the 106-year-old tradition. For
more information please visit: http://web.maynard.ma.us/bostonpostcane/
Times
changed and in 1930, after considerable controversy, eligibility for the cane
was opened to women. And just as well as the
last four Westport recipients have been women. Leopoldine Eberl 103, was presented the well-worn cane on September
5, 2005; Evelyn Goddard, 102, on November 20, 2006; and Evelyn Potuchek, 104, presented the Boston Post Cane by
Selectmen on April 26, 2011.
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