Roland Clukey honored with Dexter’s Boston Post Cane

Staff Report

    DEXTER — Roland T. Clukey, a resident of Dexter Health Care for the past three years, was presented with the Boston Post Cane on March 9, recognizing him as Dexter’s oldest male citizen.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    BOSTON POST CANE — Roland T. Clukey, 96, seated, was presented with the Boston Post Cane on March 9, recognizing him as Dexter’s oldest male citizen. Presenting the cane were Dexter Council Chairman Michael Blake, left, and Town Manager Shelley Watson.

    Clukey, 96, graduated from N.H. Fay High School in Dexter in 1936 and moved to Saco to work as an apprentice machinist. He met his future wife, Elizabeth (Betty) Giles while working in southern Maine. But shortly after they got married, they moved back to Dexter and never left the area again.
    Roland and Betty had two daughters – Jerilyn Mullis of North Carolina and Jacqueline Sharpe of Alabama; three sons – Roger of Dexter; Doug, who lives in Florida; and Greg, a resident of Connecticut; 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
    He was employed by Fay Scott Landis for 45 years, first as a machinist, later as a foreman and finally in the main office before he retired.
    Mr. Clukey is a communicant of St. Anne’s Catholic Church and a life member of the Knights of Columbus.
    He enjoyed fishing and hunting and also earned a pilot’s license.
    For more than 10 years, he cared for his wife at home when she was stricken with Alzheimer’s disease. She passed away in 1996.
    Although his eyesight is failing due to macular degeneration, his memory is still sharp as he reminisced with family and friends and enjoyed some decorated cake at the health center dining room.
    A photo of him with a short biography will now be placed in the town council chambers.