BERNARDSTON — Roberta O’Keefe chaired the Bernardston Council on Aging when the building at 20 Church St. was rededicated as the Senior Center in 2001. So what better place to hold a ceremony honoring O’Keefe as the town’s oldest resident?
O’Keefe, who turns 102 on Feb. 11, received the Boston Post cane during a lighthearted ceremony on Wednesday attended by a few dozen family members and friends. The cane, a tradition started by the now-defunct Boston Post newspaper, has been given to the eldest citizen in a town since 1908. O’Keefe said she was initially hesitant to accept the cane.
“I really dreaded this,” O’Keefe said while sitting in a chair next to a Christmas tree before eliciting a laugh. “And I said, ‘Well, it isn’t as bad as going to the dentist.’”
O’Keefe listened as fellow community members and her daughter spoke about her contributions to Bernardston before Senior Center Director Jennifer Reynolds presented her with the cane, a special pin, a state Senate citation and a letter from Gov. Charlie Baker — though Reynolds mentioned Baker must have misunderstood her request, because the letter wishes O’Keefe a happy birthday.
“Pretty fancy, isn’t it?” O’Keefe said after Reynolds handed her the cane. “I have to say, I’m humbled and very appreciative of all this.”
Family members came from as far as Belchertown and central Vermont for the ceremony.
Louella Atherton relayed stories shared by O’Keefe’s longtime friend, Greta Shores, who was unable to attend Wednesday’s ceremony, and turned the floor over to Joanne Balzarini, who O’Keefe recruited about 20 years ago to be the director of the Senior Center. Balzarini spoke warmly and fondly of her work with O’Keefe, who she credited with strengthening the Council on Aging and Senior Center.
“Whatever you’re doing,” Balzarini later told her friend about her longevity, “you’re doing the right thing.”
O’Keefe’s daughter Betty Messer thanked Reynolds, the Council on Aging and the Bernardston Selectboard for putting together the ceremony, and praised her mother for her tenacity and wit.
“She has all her marbles,” she said. “And she loves to tell people all about it.”
Messer shared snippets of stories from her mother’s life and talked about how her stepfather, Dan O’Keefe, was one of the only people she knew who could complete The New York Times crossword puzzle in ink, asking her mother if this was possibly due to his experience working for a New York newspaper.
“I don’t hear you, dear,” O’Keefe said.
“That’s good,” Messer quipped to a roar of laughter before looking out to the guests. “This is our relationship.”
Messer shared a story from when O’Keefe lived in Jericho, Vermont, for three years while O’Keefe’s mother helped her ill sister. Messer said her mother met Wilson Alwyn Bentley, who is credited with being the first person to photograph a snowflake and record its features, and viewed some of his glass negatives.
After the ceremony, O’Keefe told the Greenfield Recorder she grew up in Springfield and graduated from Classical High School in 1939, the same year the infamous flood wreaked havoc on her family’s house. She also spoke fondly of her time working at Johnson’s Bookstore in Springfield and her 35-year marriage to husband Dan O’Keefe, a former Bernardston Selectboard member. She and her husband moved to Bernardston in the late 1970s.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-930-4120.