Clinton Roscoe Hilliker, 98 is the town of Woolwich’s new keeper of the Boston Post Cane.

Surrounded by family and friends, Hilliker accepted the ceremonial walking stick from the board of selectmen at a brief ceremony Wednesday morning. The presentation was made at HillHouse, an assisted living facility at 166 Whiskeag Road in Bath. Hilliker resides there but continues to maintain his residency across the Kennebec River in Woolwich. 

Hilliker was in great spirits having recently celebrated his 98th birthday. He was born April 16, 1917, in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he grew up. He later attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he played ice hockey. After graduating as part of the MIT class of 1939, he began working for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in upstate New York.

In the 1940s Hilliker met the love of his life, Lois Cook; the two were wed in 1944.

Following a long and successful business career that took them then from New York to Connecticut, California and Texas, the Hillikers retired and moved to Maine. They settled on River Road in Woolwich and became active members of both the Day’s Ferry Congregation Church and the Day’s Ferry Community Club. For many years Hilliker served as a docent at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath.

He said the 30 or so years he spent in Woolwich were some of the best years of his life. Lois Hilliker passed away in 2012. The Hillikers three children are David Hilliker, Jeffery Hilliker and Deborah LaChapelle.

Hilliker was kind of surprised by all the attention he received from the HillHouse staff and other well-wishers who turned out for his Boston Post Cane presentation. Four of the five Woolwich selectmen were in attendance.

“It’s great honor for me to present this to you for being our community’s oldest resident,” Selectmen’s Chairman David King Sr. said handing Hilliker the cane and shaking his hand. “The greatest treasure a man can have is family and friends, and this morning you’re surrounded by them,” he added.

Asked whether he had any advice to share with the younger generation Hilliker replied: “Marry a good woman, that was the best thing I ever did!”

The passing of the Boston Post Cane is a time-honored tradition unique to New England. Woolwich is one of many Maine towns that continues to carry on the custom that began in 1902.

Edwin Grozier, the publisher of The Boston Post, had hundreds of the canes custom made to present to the town’s oldest residents in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. The cane was his (or hers) to keep for as long as they lived, when it was then passed to the next oldest resident.

For safekeeping, Woolwich’s original Boston Post Cane is kept under lock and key at the town office. The selectmen present a ceremonial one that they purchased in the 1990s.

The previous keeper of the cane was Loring “Larry” Edgerly. Edgerly died April 9 at the age of 98. He had held the cane since Dec. 2013. Along with being the keeper of the Boston Cane, Edgerly had also been the town of Woolwich’s oldest veteran.