"Southport’s Boston Post Cane presented to Evelyn Luther Pratt Sherman"

Written by Sarah A. Sherman, courtesy Boothbay Register, September 21, 2024.

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On Wednesday, Sept. 18, Southport’s oldest resident, Evelyn Luther Pratt Sherman, 97, was presented with the Boston Post Cane by Selectmen Gerry Gamage, Smith Climo and Mary Lou Thompson Koskela (her cousin). Sherman was surrounded by her family and friends, and her neighbor and favorite photographer, Robert Mitchell, documented the event.

Evelyn Luther Pratt was born on Sept. 16, 1927, to Earl W. and Evelyn L. Pratt Sr. at St. Andrews Hospital in Boothbay Harbor. In her youth, she was quite a tomboy exploring one end of the island to the other either on foot, by boat, or bicycling with her best friend and cousin Jean Luther Thompson. 

She sailed one of the five original SYC class sailboats that was built by Herbert Decker and always had her dog Spike by her side. She worked summers at her parents’ store, E. W. Pratt Mercantile, which was known locally as, “The Alley,” where she set up bowling pins for three cents a string, pumped gas, listened to the 1940s latest hits on the jukebox, and waited on customers. She attended Bebee Junior High School and Malden High School, where she was the captain of the rifle team. 

She attended University of Maine at Orono and graduated with a degree in home economics in 1950. She later worked as a substitute teacher. She married Maurice A. Sherman at the Methodist Parsonage on the west side of Southport on Oct. 8, 1950, and they had three children, Susan, William and Sarah.Sherman has 10 grandchildren — Nathan, Heather, Nicole, Mochia, Jay, Jack, Miranda, Abby, Sherman and Jake, and 13 great grandchildren — Megan, Cailyn, Jacob, Mikaela, Ian, Erich, Ashley, Kendall, Evelyn, James, Kinsley, Corbin and Kai. 

She served on the Southport Planning Board for 14 years and is a member of the United Methodist Women. She taught Sunday School at Southport Methodist Church for 30 years, and founded a club similar to 4-H with her cousin, Evelyn “Dox” Luther Stratton, for children on the island in the 1980s. She and Jean Luther Thompson were devoted Scout Grandmothers to Boy Scout Troop and Cub Scout Pack 238 for 10 years, and never missed an event. They volunteered for emergency preparedness drills, and kept the Scouts well supplied with homemade desserts.

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Sherman is a trustee of Southport Cemetery District (serving 45 years, 25 as chairwoman), and is a trustee of Hendricks Hill Museum, where she volunteered as a docent every Tuesday with Thompson. Sherman is also a member of the Friends of the Hendricks Hill Museum, and always votes at town meeting in March. 

She is an avid gardener, island historian, knitter, seamstress, and is renowned for her cooking (scotcharoos, party mix, bread and butter pickles, potato salad, cookies, cakes and pies). She loves to travel with her family around New England and into Canada, and especially to their family camp in Eustis. Recently at age 96, she set sail again aboard the schooner Eastwind, captained by her grandson, Sherman Brewer. 
 
Receiving the Boston Post Cane is a longstanding tradition in the Luther Family. Evelyn’s grandfather, Royal Luther, her aunt, Louise Froton Luther, her mother, Evelyn Luther Pratt, her, cousins Evelyn (Dox) Connor Stratton and Jean Luther Thompson, all received the Boston Post Cane as Southport Island’s oldest residents. Congratulations, Evelyn! 

The Town of Southport and Evelyn’s daughter, Sarah Sherman, worked together over the past year to create a Boston Post Cane page on the town’s website to document the island’s history. If you have any additional information regarding Southport cane recipients, please contact Sarah Sherman at 633-7161 or  email shermanmcgrail@yahoo.com.