AMHERST — With balloons displaying her age and members of her family regaling her with music, 99-year-old Phyllis Pennell had a constant smile July 19 while being celebrated as Amherst’s oldest resident.
“I’m delighted,” Pennell said as she received acclaim during an afternoon ceremony at The Arbors, the assisted living community where she has lived for the past four years.
Holding a marionette Paul Bunyan doll she made in the 1950s, which she once used as part of a puppetry troop to raise money for public preschool in her home state of Washington, Pennell was awarded the Boston Post Gold Cane by town officials.
Pennell becomes Amherst’s 21st resident so honored, a recognition that began in 1909 when the gold-tipped, ebony cane was provided by the newspaper’s editor to 431 communities in New England.
The presentation came in front of her daughter, Janine Roberts of Leverett, as well as granddaughter Natalya Weinstein-Miller and her husband John Miller, and their 2-year-old daughter, Cadence.
The Millers, who perform as Zoe and Cloyd, an Americana bluegrass band based in Asheville, North Carolina, performed a song with lyrics that included “my golden cane,” while Jerry Weinstein played on piano a rendition of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” which Roberts said is her mother’s favorite old-time song and recalls her favorite memories as a torch singer 80 years ago.
Select Board member Connie Kruger, Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Senior Center Director Nancy Pagano presented the gold cane, a framed plaque and a pin to Pennell.
“This is quite a distinguished lending of the cane,” Kruger said as she handed Pennell the gold cane.
“It’s a great award, it’s a great tradition,” Bockelman said.
The rules for awarding the cane stipulate that the recipient must be the oldest eligible resident, meaning the person who has lived in Amherst for at least 10 years and whose name is also listed in the town’s street list.
Pennell became that person following the death of Sylvia Fuchs in May. Fuchs received similar recognition last August during her 102nd birthday party.
Roberts said her mother, whom she and her three siblings called “ga,” made money by crafting slipcovers during the Great Depression, going door to door to boarding houses to find customers. Later, Pennell made backpacks in a camping supply factory. The 1930s-era sewing machine still functions.
Pennell also sewed many of the clothes for her four children, often in bright colors that always appealed to her. Roberts said the home they once lived in was painted salmon.
“She always had an eye for color,” Roberts said.
While much of her life was spent in the Seattle area, Pennell also lived for a time in Kuwait with her husband, a water geologist. Pennell came to Amherst 14 years ago to be closer to Roberts, first living at Applewood retirement community.
When asked how to live a long, happy life, Pennell said softly “no advice.”
But Roberts said her mother has lived by example, and taught her family to treat everyone the same because each person, as she put it, is made from stardust.
Pagano said Pennell will get to keep the cane for a short time, before it returns to a cabinet at the Senior Center, with a plaque next to it listing the recipients.
As the event wound down and those celebrating enjoyed cheese and crackers, cookies and fruit, Pennell got one last word in about the celebration.
“I’m so glad I graduated,” Pennell quipped.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
