Ella Lombard Honored On 105th Birthday

 NORTH HARWICH – Ella Lombard celebrated her 105th birthday on May 21. The celebration was marked by residents in the community and a plaque was presented to her by the select board.
 There is a more than a century-old tradition of honoring the oldest senior citizen living in the community by presenting them with the Boston Post Cane, but the cane hasn’t been seen for a while, and the select board is now on the hunt for it. The board voted on May 18 to honor Ella Lombard with a plaque instead. It was presented to her by Select Board members Donald Howell and Anita Doucette and Town Administrator Jay McGrail on Friday.
 The plaque reads: “A very happy 105th birthday Ella Lombard, a cherished member of the Harwich community with heartfelt congratulations and best wishes from the Harwich Select Board and the town of Harwich.”
The community came together in several ways to honor Lombard’s birthday. A giant birthday card was circulated around town, including at the select board’s meeting and at the community center, where it collected hundreds of signatures and congratulatory comments.
The storms over the winter dislodged a giant stone that marks the driveway entrance to the Lombard family home on Main Street.   
“We learned she was turning 105 this week so we organized a little team to right and decorate her rock for a little birthday surprise,” neighbor Tom Birch wrote in an email. “This is the Harwich we know and love. Happy day of birth, young lady," 
As for the Boston Post Cane, it was a bit of a publicity stunt by Edwin Grozier, owner of the Boston Post newspaper in 1909. There were 700 canes presented to town leaders across New England to be presented, at that time to the oldest man in the community (the tradition did not include women until 1930). While the newspaper closed in 1957, the tradition of recognizing the oldest person in the community has continued in many local towns.  
The canes, which have a two-inch 14-karat gold head, have disappeared from some communities. A search conducted in 2012 turned up 411 canes in towns across New England. In Harwich the cane was presented to Dorothy Atkins, who was 107 years old in 2014, according to a story in The Chronicle.
Doucette, who served as town clerk for more than a quarter of a century, said she remembers seeing the cane in recent years on a shelf in the vault in the town clerk’s office. Town Clerk Emily Mitchell said she will conduct a thorough search of the vault, hoping the cane has not walked away.