'He is my treasure': 103-year-old Kittery man awarded Boston Post Cane

KITTERY, Maine — In 1917, the United States entered World War I, marshmallow fluff was invented, a brand new car cost less than $400 and the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded.

It was also the birth year of longtime Kittery resident Malcolm Foss, the town’s 23rd recipient of the prestigious Boston Post Cane honor.

On Wednesday night, Foss, his loved ones and town leaders gathered for an intimate ceremony at the Kittery Historical & Naval Museum to honor the 103-year-old Foss, whose birthday is Sept. 5.

As part of the Missouri Compromise, Maine entered the union as the 23rd state in March 1820. “They say I’m half as old as the state of Maine,” Foss said after his reception. 

The Boston Post Cane honor dates back to 1909, when Edwin Grozier, publisher of the now-nonexistent newspaper the Boston Post, distributed 700 canes to municipalities throughout New England, save for Connecticut and Vermont.

Designed to be awarded to each municipality’s oldest living male, the award was modified in the 1930s to include women. 

According to Kim Sanborn, director of the Kittery Historical & Naval Museum, only 517 of the ebony canes, each with a gold cap and inscribed with every participating municipality’s name, continue to be passed on to New England residents. The tradition is still going strong even though the Boston Post went out of business in 1956.

The last 11 Boston Post Cane recipients in Kittery have been women, she added, and the town’s oldest recipient of all lived to be 106 years old.

“So you’ve got a few years to hold onto this,” she teased Foss.

Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral, Town Council Vice Chair Judy Spiller and Councilor George Dow were on hand to celebrate Foss with a proclamation from the council, as well as gift him with flowers and a plaque.

Bob Gray, president of the Kittery Historical and Naval Society, also gave Foss a hat and coin, both of which commemorated Maine’s bicentennial last year. 

While the cane will return to its spot in Kittery’s Town Hall, a photo of Foss will be displayed at Town Hall to recognize his status as Kittery’s eldest resident.

Looking at the life of Kittery's eldest resident

Born in Northwood, New Hampshire, Foss, the oldest of five children, looks back fondly on his childhood. When he lived in Northwood, he and his grandfather, Alfred Foss, rode in a horse and buggy to Calef’s Country Store in Barrington.

After his mother, Hazel, divorced his father, Frank Foss, she remarried Frank Blake, who lived in Kittery Point and moved the family out there.

In Kittery Point, Foss would go sledding on a 10-man double-runner sled on Haley Road and down Tenney Hill Road. After watching two movies with a five-act vaudeville show at intermission for 15 cents in Portsmouth on Saturdays, Foss, his brothers and a friend would stop at a vendor on the Memorial Bridge selling hot dogs for five cents.

2017 story:More on Malcolm Foss

Graduating from R.W. Traip Academy in 1936, Foss later joined the Army on March 10, 1941, just under nine months before Japanese forces attacked the Pearl Harbor naval base.

Foss specifically remembers being in the Army for three years, eight months and 20 days, eventually advancing in rank to technical sergeant in the 101st Signal Radio Intelligence Company.

Though he remained mum on his missions as a pact he kept with members of his unit during World War II, his family members later learned he was part of the intelligence operation MS-5. A family record shows that, while in MS-5, Foss “built and operated advanced radio communications systems, radio signal detection, and radio direction-finding systems.”

“(United States National Security Agency) records show that enemy intelligence gathered by Malcolm’s unit was a vital part of winning the Pacific War,” a family document states. 

While in the service, Foss bought an engagement ring in Honolulu and sent it home to sweetheart Marjorie Lewis, who he had previously met through his hometown best friend, Ralph Tobey. When he returned to the United States, the two married at First Christian Church in Kittery Point on Jan. 21, 1945, resulting in a 64-year marriage lasting until Marjorie’s death in June 2009.

The couple had four children: daughters Nancy, Susan and Judith, and their son Ronald, who passed away shortly after birth in 1952. 

After marrying, Foss got a job at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard working as a helper electrician. Before retiring in 1972, he had become an electrical inspector in nuclear power.

A lover of cars and of traveling with loved ones, Foss is also deacon emeritus of the First Christion Church in Kittery Point.

Foss’ eldest daughter, Nancy Lawson, said their entire family has been looking forward to the event for months since they found out Foss was nominated. 

“It’s such a blessing to be able to be here together. The family hasn’t been here together for any time and here we are together,” she said.

About 30 family members were in attendance, ranging from Foss’ children to great-grandchildren, all of them proud to celebrate the man Lawson said has a “wonderful” smile that he is always generous with.

“He is my treasure,” she said.

After spending over 90 years of his life in Maine’s southernmost town, traveling across the country and spending time in a different ocean, Foss said his loving family has always been his constant. 

"I've had a great life and a large family, and they help me a lot," he said.