Franklin Matters: Harriet DiMartino receives Franklin's Boston Post Cane as it's oldest resident

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Harriet DiMartino receives Franklin's Boston Post Cane as it's oldest resident

Town Clerk Nancy Danello presented the cane to Harriet DiMartino on Thursday, December 7. 2023. State Rep Jeff Roy also presented a Citation from the MA House of Representatives. Harriet was in the company of several members of her family.

Harriet's story as contained in the Proclamation from the Town of Franklin to mark the occasion:

Harriet was born on April 18, 1922, in Lancaster NH to Cora Congdon (Nurse) and Frederick Congdon (Clerk of Probate Coos County). She attended Lancaster schools and graduated from Lancaster High School where she was an excellent student and a basketball star.

Harriet attended the University of New Hampshire where she met the love of her life, Dominic DiMartino. They both loved ballroom dancing. After their first dance together, there was only one name that filled Harriet’s dance cards.

Dom, a civil engineering graduate of UNH, was drafted into the Army and was assigned to the China Burma India Theater assisting with the building of airport runways with the Army Corps of Engineers. She received a degree in accounting from UNH. During the war, Harriet taught school in Berlin NH and The Catskills NY.

Dom & Harriet were married on June 1, 1946, shortly after Dom returned home from India. They moved to Franklin in 1950 where they built their home on Lincoln Street. Along with being a mother to five children, Harriet was co-owner, Vice President and bookkeeper for the D DiMartino Construction Company which was established in 1962.

Harriet was a devout Episcopalian and converted to Catholicism to attend church with her husband and family. She was an active member of the Franklin Catholic Women Club for many years.

Every summer, the day after school ended, she loaded up the children and family dog in the beach wagon and headed to West Falmouth where the family spent most summers at the cottage built by Dom in 1954.

She was a fabulous baker of pies and cookies, until aging affected her ability to mix the dough. Her cookie jars were always filled with homemade treats for those who visit and there was usually an apple or rhubarb pie on the kitchen counter.
Upon retiring she and Dom spent 6 months of the year in their condo in Hollywood, Florida, where Harriet served as the association treasurer of the condo association. Summers were spent at their “new” home in West Falmouth, built in 1986 adjacent to the cottage. Annually, there were two brief returns to 2 Meetinghouse Lane in Franklin for the transition from Florida Snowbird to Cape Codder and back. They were married for 64 years until Dom’s passing in 2011. Harriet continued the annual north to south migration until 2018.

Harriet continues to be a die-hard Patriots and Red Sox fan. She and Dom were 25-year Patriots season tickets holders (before the Pat’s became a historic team.) Admittedly, Harriet was the bigger sports fan than Dom.

Since 2018, Harriet has resided in her home in Franklin full time. She enjoys crossword puzzles on the TV via an app, watching the Red Sox, MASH DVDs, and weekly Sunday Mass broadcast from Notre Dame University. She is a devoted and loving mother to five children, grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of eight great- grandchildren.