At the age of 94, Leslie P. Tallarico is the latest recipient of Wilton’s Boston Post Cane.
Les accepted the cane in a ceremony during Old Home Days at Curtis Farm. Selectman Kermit Williams said Tallarico was the “perfect recipient” for the honor, due to his high level of involvement in town and his deep roots in Wilton.
He summered in Wilton from the time he was a child, and moved to the area permanently when he was 21. The only summer he’s spent away from town was in 1947, when he was serving in World War II with the 11th Airborne Division and was stationed in Japan. His family has a long history in town -- he is the direct descendant of Jonathan Livermore, the town’s first settled pastor.
Tallarico spent 33 years on the Wilton Conservation Commission and through his efforts, many important features of Wilton have been preserved. He also donated 87 acres of farm and forest land around his home on Kimball Hill Road to the town.
About the Boston Cane
In 1909 the Boston Post Newspaper had 700 ornate, ebony-shafted, gold-capped canes made and contacted the Selectmen in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island towns. The Boston Post Canes were given to the Selectmen with the request that the canes be presented in a ceremony to the town's oldest living man. The custom was expanded to include a community's oldest women in 1930. More than 500 towns in New England still carry on the Boston Post Cane tradition with the original canes they were awarded in 1909.
