“Jean Thompson presented with Southport’s Boston Post Cane.”
Written by Sarah A. Sherman, courtesy Boothbay Register, January 21, 2019.

 

On Wednesday, Jan. 16, Southport’s oldest resident, Jean Luther Thompson, age 94, was presented with the Boston Post Cane by Town Selectmen, Gerry Gamage and Smith Climo, and her daughter and Selectwoman, Mary Lou Koskela. Jean’s trusty side kick and cousin, Evelyn Sherman, and her family attended the festivities, while her favorite photographer and neighbor, Robert Mitchell, documented the event.

Jean Louise Luther was born on July 7, 1924, and moved to Southport Island permanently in 1936. She attended the Southport Central School, Boothbay Harbor High School, and the Gorham Normal School, which was renamed Gorham State Teachers College her senior year. Jean graduated in 1945, with a degree in teaching (certifying her to teach K-3).

She was married to Stuart Thompson by Father Martin O’Toole at the Catholic Rectory in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on June 21, 1947, and they had two daughters, Mary Lou and Anne. Jean has four grandchildren Aili, Carrie, Mike and Sam, and recently welcomed her first great-grandchild, Hawkin Royal Maher, whose middle name is in honor of his great-great-grandfather, Royal Luther.

Note: Since the article ran in the Boothbay Register in 2019, Mrs. Thompson now has five Great Grandchildren - Hawkin Royal Maher, James Sailor “Fuzzy” Maher, Ford Jaquith Maher, Luke Peter Maher, and Reilly Marie Maher.
 

Jean worked as a teacher at the Boothbay Center Primary School, and as a substitute teacher at the Southport Central School and Edgecomb, East Boothbay, and Boothbay Harbor Elementary Schools for many years. She taught Sunday school at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Boothbay Harbor for 21years, served for ten years on the board for the district nurse, and for two years on the Southport Planning Board, and is a member of the Friends of the Southport Historical Society.

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Jean’s favorite things to do include cooking, gardening, making special homemade cards for her family, and taking trips around the state of Maine. At age 94, Jean was still volunteering as a docent at the Hendricks Hill Museum every Tuesday in the summer with her 91-year-old cousin, Evelyn Luther Pratt Sherman, and she never misses voting at Town Meeting in March.

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Receiving the Boston Post Cane is a long-standing tradition in the Luther/Froton/Thompson family. Thompson’s Grandfather, Royal Luther, and Mother, Louise Froton Luther, Aunt Lena Froton Dulong (Granby, Massachusetts), Aunt Evelyn Luther Pratt, and Cousin, Evelyn (Dox) Connor Stratton (age 98), all received the Boston Post Cane.