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Photo courtesy of Town of Westwood. Award recipient Eddie Germano (seated) holds the Boston Post Cane which he will return to the town. He will keep a replica on a lapel pin presented by Town Clerk Dottie Powers (right).
2-18-2025 12:05am
Centenarian Eddie Germano is Boston Post Cane Recipient and Westwood's Oldest Resident (Updated)
Darlene Cancell
Editor
After starting a first job as the office boy for what was once New England’s most popular newspaper nine decades ago, Westwood centenarian Eddie Germano has come full circle on February 11th as the recipient of Westwood’s Boston Post Cane, a recognition bestowed on the oldest resident of the town, continuing a tradition launched by the Boston Post daily newspaper in the early 1900s.
The Boston Post Cane tradition began when publisher Edwin A. Grazier gifted 700 finely made canes to towns throughout the Commonwealth, with the intention that selectmen would present the canes to each town’s oldest male resident. The canes were made of Gaboon ebony from the Congo in Africa. On the head of each cane, a 14 karat gold disc was soldered, bearing the inscription, “PRESENTED BY The Boston Post to the OLDEST CITIZEN of _____ (TO BE TRANSMITTED)” with the name of each participating town included in the blank space. The canes were designed by maker J.F. Fradley & Co. of New York, and intended to be for everyday use and to last many years. In 1930, eligibility for the cane was opened to women.
In his acceptance speech, viewable on Westwood Media Center’s YouTube channel, 100 year-old Mr. Germano recounted his childhood dream at age 10 of becoming a sports cartoonist for the Boston Post, which at the time was widely read in New England, with a circulation of about 700,000, he recalled. (By other reports, circulation reached well over a million readers in the 1930s.)
Photo courtesy of Town of Westwood. Eddie Germano, Westwood, MA's oldest resident, gives remarks as COA Director Lina Arena-DeRosa and Town Clerk Dottie Powers stand by to present the Boston Post Cane award honors.Mr. Germano’s foot in the door was a $18 a week full-time job as the Boston Post’s office boy. He would run errands for editors, hand-crank the office building elevator up and down, and fetch the Sunday paper, among other tasks.
Eventually, Mr. Germano became a cartoonist for the TV section of the Boston Globe. He stayed in the Globe’s art department for 13 years. After moving to Florida, he finally advanced to his dream of becoming a sports cartoonist with the Miami Daily News.
“The newspaper has been such a big part of my life, I can’t explain how much it meant and still means to me,” he said. “I would read the paper as fast and as much as I could to keep up on the news,” he said. “Unfortunately, those of you who depend on television for your news, the next day, can you tell me what you saw? It’s very difficult to remember what you saw. TV is an entertainment media. A newspaper’s there to read. If you don’t understand something, you can go back to it and reread it. You can get different opinions,” he explained, lamenting newspapers' demise.
Before the Boston Post stopped publication in 1956, it had been one of many competing papers for the Boston area and New England, according to Mr. Germano. "Practically everyone on the [] train read the paper," he said. He noted that today, there are only two major papers serving the Boston area -- the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, and that one of them looks to him to be clearly struggling.
Following Mr. Germano’s remarks, Town Clerk Dottie Powers and Council on Aging Director Lina Arena-DeRosa presented Mr. Germano with a gold pin replica of the cane, which Ms. Powers pinned to his lapel. “You can’t take the big cane home, but you got this as your memento,” said Ms. Powers.
“I’ll wear it with pride, I assure you,” said Mr. Germano. A few moments later, he joked, “I want to propose a new law in the Town of Westwood that when you reach 100 years old, they cut the taxes by 20 percent.” The joke was met with laughs by those attending.
“Who doesn’t love Eddie?” asked Select Board Chair Joe Previtera. “When Eddie speaks, everyone listens,” he said.
Representative Paul McMurtry offered Mr. Germano congratulations from himself and on behalf of Senator Michael Rush. He presented certificates to Mr. Germano from the state House of Representatives and Senate, along with wishes for future good fortune and success. Representative McMurtry also took the opportunity to respond to Mr. Germano’s joke and remarks by stating that he currently is working on legislation for senior property tax relief. Last session, he chaired a commission regarding the concern of journalism deserts that are created from lack of local news, he said.
Photo courtesy of Town of Westwood. Westwood centenarian Eddie Germano, who was awarded the Boston Post cane on February 11, 2025, recalls his dream of becoming a sports cartoonist for the newspaper, that began at the Boston Post.According to the Town of Westwood, Mr. Germano is the seventh town resident to receive the cane since it resurfaced 16 years ago, after a long absence.
Like the other towns that have continued the Boston Post Cane tradition up through recent years - around 550, according to The Boston Post Cane Information Center - the Town of Westwood retains the historic object for safekeeping, but places it on display. Residents wishing to view it can see it in a glass case at the Westwood Council on Aging.
Surrounding towns that appear to have continued the tradition in recent years include Dover and Norwood, notes The Boston Post Cane Information Center. The center's records state that the cane is on display in Walpole, retired in Medfield, and retired and on display in Needham.
In some cases, the tradition in some towns may have ceased due to the canes being lost, stolen, destroyed by fire or accident, or failure or refusal to return them to town officials. Additionally, “People often turned down the privilege of receiving the cane out of fear that the cane was cursed and that they would sadly die after receiving the cane,” reports Sharon Local History.
Thanks to the Town of Westwood for sharing its news for this Westwood Minute article.
Updated 1/19/2025 at 9:27 p.m. A misspelling in the last name of this article's subject appeared in the initial version of this article. Edits have been made to reflect the correct spelling, which is "Germano." Westwood Minute apologizes for the error.
