When Audrey LaRoche asked to see the Boston Post Cane just given to her grandmother, Hilda Telfer, her grandmother held it tight without saying a word.

Telfer, who was born when Theodore Roosevelt was still president, received an ebony stick capped with 14-karat gold handle as family and town officials honored her as Salem’s oldest living resident on Monday, March 24.

At 104 years old, the former Salem librarian still reads the newspaper daily and stays up to date on current events, her grandson Peter Boylan said.

“I get the news from her,” he said. “I don’t have the time to read past headlines.”

Telfer smiled during a presentation of the cane from Ingram Senior Center Director Patti Drelick.

“I certainly appreciate it,” she said, drawing laughter from the dozen people gathered to see her.

LaRoche, Boylan and Patrick Boylan all pitched in telling stories about episodes in their grandmother’s life.

Peter Boylan said his grandmother often shared stories of growing up in Eastport, Maine, where a punishment for bad behavior at home was to take away her library card for a month. Her love for reading carried over into her career as she moved to North Salem in 1932 and worked for its library.

Telfer’s secret to a life of longevity: “Behave myself,” she said. “She’s always been happy, even-keeled and content,” La- Roche said.

As a great-great-great grandmother of a 4-year-old, Telfer has lived close to family at Warde Health Center in Windham since 2001, when she moved out of her Howard Street home.

Telfer volunteered in the community for many years and served as a library trustee years before the Kelley Library was built. A senior housing unit on Telfer Circle was named “Hilda’s Place” for her.

She has been a member of the Salem Woman’s Club since 1946, and served as president and state chairman. She was presented with her gold card, representing 50-plus years of membership.

The current cane, which is a replica of the original Boston Post promotion first given out in 431 towns in 1909, has had a short history, since Salem’s original was lost in the 1970s.

In 2005, Frances Anderson was the first recipient since the original cane was replaced, Drelick said.

After Anderson died recently, Drelick said a search for a new recipient yielded three residents who were at least 100 years old. Although Telfer lived at the Windham nursing home since 2001, Telfer was considered because of her long history in the community and desire to stay close to Salem.