SHELBURNE — As the town’s oldest resident at 100 years old, Nina Leone was presented with one of the few remaining Boston Post canes during a small gathering Friday, where she proudly said she is on her way to 101.
Selectboard members Robert Manners and Margaret Payne presented Leone with the cane, which is traditionally given to a town’s oldest resident, as well as a certificate from the town.
“You have seen so much history,” Manners said as he handed off the cane.
“Oh, that’s beautiful,” Leone said as the sun reflected off the golden handle.
A Boston Post cane was presented to every community in Massachusetts in the early 1900s, Manners explained. Most of the canes were lost over time and the whereabouts of only a select few golden canes remain.
State Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, was also in attendance Friday, and gave Leone a certificate from the state and House of Representatives, signed by House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo. Blais read from the certificate, which offered “sincerest congratulations” to Leone in recognition of receiving the Boston Post cane.
“The entire membership extends its very best wishes, and expresses a hope for future good fortune and continued success in all endeavors,” Blais read.
Born Feb. 15, 1920, Leone was just an infant when the 1918 influenza pandemic was coming to an end, after taking two years to circle the globe. She was born before Alaska and Hawaii were granted statehood, and saw men and women leave for multiple wars. Now, 100 years after her birth, Leone is living through another pandemic.
Leone and her family moved to Western Massachusetts from Queens in New York City in the early 1990s.
“I was a secretary in the Chrysler building for Texaco,” she recalled. After moving, she worked for the Shelburne Housing Authority and Harmon Personnel Services in Greenfield.
Leone now lives with her daughter, Maria San Miguel, and son, Phil Leone. She has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Leone said she still exercises, gets around on her own using a walker and can still climb a flight of stairs.
“I’m on my way to 101,” she said.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.