Littleton bestows cane to eldest citizen

LITTLETON, Maine — The town’s eldest living resident was honored Thursday evening with a small ceremony at her home.
Mabel (McGuire) Walton, 92, was presented with the “town cane” by Courtney Toby, town manager, and members of the board of selectmen.
    The history of the town’s cane is somewhat cloudy, as official records to previous owners do not exist. The town’s original cane was either lost or destroyed in a fire several years ago, according to Robert Bartlett, chairman of the board of selectmen.
“Well, maybe somebody sold it,” Walton joked.
According to Toby, prior to Walton receiving the cane, the cane had been forgotten about for a couple of years, until Selectmen asked of its whereabouts. The cane was located, residents’ ages were researched and the cane was presented to Walton.
Walton was born at home in November 1920 in Presque Isle, to Fred and Beatrice (Ballard) McGuire, the fifth of six children. Born premature, she weighed just 3 pounds at birth.
“I was wrapped in cotton batten and kept in the oven, which was done in those days, until I gained more weight,” she said. “My mother and father took turns with their sleep schedule so one was on watch at all times to make sure the oven was always warm, as there were no incubators and babies were kept home at that period of time. I was always the smallest child growing up. The wind could have blown me away.”
Walton said she was excited to learn she was going to receive the cane.
“Then I decided it was not worthwhile to get myself all worked up about it,’ she joked.
“It’s quite an honor,” added Bartlett.
In 1947, she married Robert Walton. The couple was married for 60 years, before Robert passed away away the day after their 60th anniversary. They had two daughters, Susan Nason and Nancy Golding, who both live just a “shout away” from her in Littleton. She also has four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
The Waltons moved to Monticello in 1947, as he and his father were hired to manage the starch factory. During that time, Mabel went to work in 1957 for Monticello Potato Shippers as their bookkeeper.
“I worked under the leadership of Fred Mills and Kenneth Elleiott at the shippers,” she recalled. “Those were interesting years with all the various farmers from Littleton to Bridgewater. After working there for a number of years I went to work for Perley Carmichael at Carmichael Brothers in Littleton. All during this time I kept a home and helped my husband and father-in-law when they decided to go into farming in 1955 and bought a farm in Monticello. I cut seed, picked potatoes, worked in the potato house and did the bookkeeping for my husband. Back in those days you didn’t have time to think of what you were going to do with your days.”
In 1954, Hurricane Edna struck the area and the Waltons were flooded out from their apartment behind the starch factory in Monticello. In 1955, they bought the Dana Cheney farm in Littleton and built a new home, which is still there today.
“My youngest daughter and her husband took over the farms after they were married in 1970,” she said. “Bob had once said after the girls are married you and I are going to Florida and in 1971, we moved to Homestead, Florida and were there until 1992 when Hurricane Andrew once again wiped us out of our home.”
The Waltons returned to Littleton and have been there since. While living in Florida, she worked for two various firms as a bookkeeper, the first was Hatcher and Holland, who were a large packing firm for tomatoes with operations in Homestead, Florida and Charleston, S.C., where they traveled to in the spring and stayed until the first of July when tomato season ended in S.C.
“Those were long hours from November until July as the sheds would start packing around seven in the morning and end at two or three the next morning,” she said. “After this firm was sold I went to work for Alger Farms in Homestead and was with them until I retired at the age of 68.”
Walton’s longevity can be attributed to working hard, eating a well-balanced diet and praying faithfully to the Lord to sustain her through various phases of my life, she said.
“I am still very independent and take care of my home and myself,” Walton said. “The only thing I am unable to do is drive my car because of eye problems. When it was time to renew my license this past year, my family encouraged me to keep it for emergency use only, which I did.”