READFIELD — Ray Siegler, a resident of East Readfield since 1950, except for 12 years when he and his wife Madeleine moved their family to Augusta, recently received the Boston Post Cane, according to a news release from Dale Potter-Clark.
“With six children and my job at the KJ, it was just easier to live in the city,” said Siegler, according to the release.
But the pair came to long for their old home on Monks Hill in East Readfield. So when it came up for sale in 1971 they grabbed it.
“It was quite miraculous that we were able to buy back the same house we loved” said Siegler, according to the release. He remains there to this day. The couple ran Monks Hills Herbs together until Madeleine died in 1993.
He worked for the Kennebec Journal for a total of 35 years, and retired as the managing editor at age 62.
Not long after Madeleine died, Ray happened to run into Lois Williams, a widow from Mt. Vernon.
Their spouses, they learned, had died within days of each other.
Lois, who turned 90 in November, explained that she and Ray had known each other some years before, when he was city editor and she was the Mt. Vernon correspondent. They commiserated about their losses, became friends and six years later they were married. Lois moved to Siegler’s home in East Readfield.
Together the couple has 18 children, 33 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren, according to the release.
In a ceremony held earlier this year, with townspeople and several of Siegler’s family members in attendance, the Boston Post Cane was presented to Siegler as the oldest person living in Readfield. He turned 97 on Dec. 6.
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