WILMOT — Claire L. Brown Moseley, longtime resident of Wilmot, was awarded Wilmot’s Boston Post Cane at the Wilmot Historical Society’s annual meeting on November 10. The tradition of this cane being given to the oldest citizen in town began in 1909 when Edwin Grozier, publisher of the Boston Post newspaper, presented a personalized gold-headed ebony cane to the select boards of 700 towns throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

Claire was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 2,1933, and attended Story Elementary School, where she has a very clear memory of the United States entering World War II when she was in third grade. She went on to graduate from Marblehead High School, and in the fall of 1951, she traveled by train every day into Boston to attend Emerson College where she majored in drama. Using her drama background, she worked for a few years as a counselor and drama coach at a Horseback Riding Camp in Vermont.

When Claire married, she and her husband spent several years in the Far East where she gave birth to three children. Unfortunately, her husband died, and she and the children returned to New England. She remarried and had another child with whom she currently shares the lovely home she built in Wilmot and where she lived with her late husband Dudley, who died in 2021.

During her working career, the job Claire most enjoyed was as a sales representative for upscale home accessories. Her talents in this area were tapped by the Wilmot Community Association when they were raising money to construct a new building. 

Claire organized a house and garden tour, and through her efforts, $37,000 was contributed toward the goal. Once the building was constructed, she used her decorating talents to finish the interior. At age 91, Claire now enjoys her beautiful perennial gardens, reading, and spending time with friends.