Williamstown Passes Post Cane to Oldest Resident

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
08:18PM / Thursday, February 05, 2009

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Sophie Prejsnar

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Sophie Prejsnar greeted her audience with a queenly wave on Wednesday as she was wheeled into the lobby at Williamstown Commons.

It was a suitable salute; the diminutive Prejsnar was about to be crowned the town's oldest person and the bearer of the Williamstown Post Cane.

"How old am I?" she asked. That would be 105.

Old enough for her name to join others on a plaque at the Harper Center. Once upon a time, the oldest citizen also got to keep the Post Cane, said Council on Aging Executive Director Brian O'Grady, but no longer.

The cane itself is 100 years old (that would make Prejsnar 5 years old when it was made). It was part of a promotion by Edwin A. Grozier, then publisher of the old Boston Post newspaper, which went under more than a half-century ago.

Grozier sent 700 of the ebony canes to towns around New England to be presented to the oldest citizen (only men in those days) and passed down. Over the years, most of the canes have disappeared or been forgotten. Sometimes the oldest citizen moved away, taking the cane with him.

That's what happened to Lee's Post Cane, which was discovered about a decade ago in a pile of rubbish in Charlton after being gone for 50 years.

Williamstown's was missing for nearly two decades when it came to Grady's attention. Someone at the Harper Center asked about the cane, he told the Selectmen last week when asking for their signatures on a resolution recognizing Prejsnar's distinction as the oldest person.

He followed a number of leads but came up empty. "One family told us that their relative had it but they were pretty sure it was buried with her," he said, "and that would have been the end of the story."

It was eventually found in an attic, placed there years ago by a family whose children had been allowed to play with the cane by then holder Harry Hart. Since it's rediscovery on Easter Sunday in 2001, the cane has been kept safe at the Harper Center, along with a plaque that now records to whom it was presented — starting with Hart.

Grady said some recipients have been proud to have the cane, others not so much. Presjnar seemed pleased enough, holding it up for pictures at Wednesday's ceremonial presentation.

The Williamstown cane bears the wear of hard use; its shaft and 14-carat gold head are worn and Grady said it had a rubber tip on its end when it was recovered.

Williamstown Commons activities director Janice Paquette presents Prejsnar with a resolution from the Selectmen recognizing her as the town's oldest person. Left, Prejsnar as a young woman; top, posing with daughter Joyce Cozzaglio.

Its latest holder was born on Dec. 20, 1903, in Adams. She married Joseph Prejsnar in 1941 and worked as a hairdresser at times while her husband operated Prejsnar's Garage.

They had two daughters, one now living in California and Joyce Cozzaglio of North Adams, along with three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1972.

Cozzaglio said her mother was very active well into her 90s, and loved traveling. She frequently visited her daughter in California and, in her 70s, trekked to Rome and had an audience with the pope.

"She was very, very family oriented," said Cozzaglio. She lived with her daughter's family for many years and helped raise her grandson. She was pretty independent, too, hopping in car with her young daughters and a sister to drive out to Montana to visit another a sister.

Prejsnar moved to Williamstown Commons about seven years and had been active playing bingo and with religious observances until recently. While enjoying the attention at first, the fragile senior citizen was flagging by the end of the short ceremony.

"I'm just too old," she said.

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