On Aug. 2, 1909, Mr. Edwin A. Grozier, publisher of the Boston Post, forwarded a gold-headed ebony cane to the Board of Selectmen in 700 towns in New England.

He asked that the cane be presented (with the compliments of the Boston Post) to the oldest male citizen of the town to be used by him as long as he lives in the town. Then it was handed down to the next oldest citizen of the town.

In 1930, after considerable controversy, eligibility for the cane was opened to women as well. The cane would belong to the town and not the citizen who received it.

On May 8, the Westhampton Select Board presented the town’s Boston Post Cane to Sally Lawton, 97, at a reception at the Westhampton Public Library.

Sally has lived in Westhampton since 1961 and has a long and rich history of community involvement. Born Sally Muther on March 28, 1926, she lived in Boston and its environs through her sophomore year of high school.

An only child, Sally and her family moved to Dayton, Ohio, where her father was stationed at Wright Field. When his next assignment took the family to California, Muther abandoned her longing to attend an East Coast college. Instead she attended Mills College, the first women’s college west of the Rockies, which was founded by a Mount Holyoke College graduate.

She was an art major and was especially focused on portraiture. After graduating she taught art at a private school. Her parents relocated to Waltham and, in the summer of 1951, Muther returned east to attend Harvard Summer School.

At the July 4th “getting acquainted” dance, she met Edward Lawton, who was taking classes in history during his summer break from teaching history at the Williston School in Easthampton. Evening walks along the Charles River led to a proposal within two weeks.

At the time, teachers at Williston were given small lodgings along with the responsibility of supervising residential life for boarding students. The couple ended up in an apartment on Park Street, where they lived with their growing family. By then, they began to search for a home of their own. They set their sights on a “funny-looking” house in Westhampton. The California-influenced flat-roofed house had been built following plans from Better Homes and Gardens. The house lingered on the market until finally the Lawtons could afford it.

When they moved to Westhampton in 1961, the family consisted of Sally and Ed, their three children Edward, Cynthia and James, and Sally’s parents. Sally’s father was the first to arrive at the house to prepare it for the rest of the family. It was a cold day in March, before any utilities had been turned on. When a neighbor showed up with a load of firewood, it was the first inkling that Westhampton is a truly unique community.

Sally adapted to a more rural life, caring for her family, gardening, and getting involved in the community. She taught art for a few years in the hilltowns. In 1966, the family spent a year in Japan. When they arrived back, teaching jobs were harder to get, and the credentials were stricter. She turned her attention to the education department at the Unitarian Church in Northampton. In 1979 an electrical fire tore through their garage and did considerable smoke damage to the house. Neighbors took the family in and helped with donations of clothing and other items.

Sally developed a passion for Esperanto, and taught the widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language to fourth-graders at Westhampton Elementary School.

Back in Westhampton, Sally was involved in the Council on Aging and has always been an enthusiastic supporter of the library. When she is not out in her garden or reading, Sally can be found listening to NPR or watching public television.

Julia Lennen is the chairperson of the Westhampton Council on Aging.]]>