On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, Wilmot Historical Society president Liz Kirby presented the town’s original Boston Post Cane to 90-year-old Walter Willis Walker during a small ceremony attended by members of his family.
Walter has deep roots in Wilmot. Although he was born in Danbury, his mother’s ancestors, the Langleys, settled in Wilmot between 1820 and 1830, and eventually Walter raised his family in Wilmot. When Walter was young, his mother taught school in the one-room school house located on Old North Road in North Wilmot.
Born on October 18, 1930 to Frank and Annie (Langley) Walker, Walter attended all eight grades of elementary school in the one-room school in South Danbury. After grade school he went on to Andover High School where he enrolled in an auto shop course. What he learned there enabled him to rebuild a car with two of his friends. After graduation in 1949, he and his friends drove to California and back in the newly refurbished car.
After high school, Walter enlisted in the Air Force and became a machinist — work he really enjoyed. He was stationed in Thule, Greenland, until his discharge in 1954, when he returned to this area.
There were no machinist jobs available, so he went to work as an apprentice to Clarence Granger and became a carpenter. Eventually he formed his own construction business, which he ran until he retired.
Walter met and married Judith Ripley Schucker, a nurse from Massachusetts who was working at New London Hospital. They settled in Wilmot in a home that he built where they raised their four children, Wade, Rusty, Holly, and Nathan, all of whom still live nearby. His sister Margery lives in Laconia, and a brother Danny lives in Vermont.
An active member of the community, Walter has held the positions of Health Officer and Clerk for the Board of Adjustment on the Planning Board. He has a special interest in the historical legacy of the families and the town of Wilmot. He and Judy were on the 1976 Bicentennial Committee, and he has been a member of the Wilmot Town History Committee since 1976.
The custom of presenting the Boston Post Cane to the oldest citizen in town began in 1909 and was given to men only until the 1930s. The idea was that as the oldest citizen departed this earth, the cane would be passed onto the next oldest, and so on. Seven hundred African ebony 36-inch canes with 14 carat gold engraved heads were distributed to New England towns to give to their oldest citizens to use.
Wilmot’s original Boston Post Cane resides in the History Room at the Town Offices where the town has entrusted it to the Wilmot Historical Society for safe keeping. A recent video of Walter telling about his early life may be found on the “Memories of Wilmot” tab on the society’s website at WilmotHistoricalSociety.org.