Nancy Richards isn’t your typical 95-year-old.
She still lives in the Mason house she bought with her late husband Donald in the early 1970s. She still drives herself everywhere, is the oldest member of the Mason Fire Department and is so well known for her knitting that she once had a pair of needles returned to her that were found on a town road.
Up until six years ago, she served as a selectwoman in town, doing so for 23 years, and probably has a busier social schedule than most half her age.
The reason Richards stays busy is because that’s just how she’s always been. Growing up on a farm, she had lots of chores, played sports and her mother always expected her to have a project in the works. And has seen no good reason to slow down. So she hasn’t.
“Strike while the iron’s hot, that’s what I always say,” Richards said.
She moved to Mason with her husband because they were looking for a place in southern New Hampshire with an easy commute to Boston. She had never heard of the town, but “the real estate agent showed us a piece of property that we liked.”
So they decided to make the move to the town of 500 where everybody knew each other. At that time there were no street signs and a lot of the directions included a big rock or a large pine tree. But she quickly grew to love the town and wanted to get involved.
She joined the fire department in 1979, one of the first four women to be on the force. During World War II, her Girl Scouts group helped local fire departments because there was a shortage of men. It fulfilled a dream she had from a young age and knew it was something she’d get involved with wherever she ended up.
In the beginning, she did everything. She drove trucks, fought fires and helped get new members up to speed with department procedures. These days, she considers herself semi-retired, although she still responds to the station when a call comes in and helps with truck checks. She doesn’t go on calls anymore, but is there to support those who are out doing the hard part.
“When I was little, I wanted to be a firefighter and a soldier, and I was told I was a girl and I couldn’t do that,” Richards said. “When I got older, I could do that, so I did what I wanted and did both.”
Richards is a World War II veteran, spending two years in the service after entering the military eight months after the war ended. She was sent to Manila and worked in small outpatient clinics, putting her certification as a physical therapist to good use. She would have entered the service at the age of 18, but back then it required her parents’ signature, which they would not provide.
When she returned to the states, Richards completed her education, getting a bachelor’s degree in education and then returned to school years later to get her master’s in education. In those days, there wasn’t a degree in physical therapy, but she figured its a field where “you’re always teaching somebody something,” so an education degree would serve her well.
During her career, Richards worked at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and VA facilities in West Roxbury and Manchester. But in 1985, it was time to retire and “when you retire, you wonder what you’re going to do.”
But since Richards enjoyed being busy, she quickly discovered a different outlook.
“You wonder how you had time to go to work and I still haven’t figured that out,” she said.
Because as she puts it, “every retiree is an easy target because they know you have time on your hands.”
It was only five years later that she ran for selectman, but never envisioned her service would span more than two decades.
“Somebody twisted my arm to run because they thought I’d do a good job,” Richards said. “I never thought about being a selectman, but once you get in, you realize nobody wants the job.”
She enjoyed it, helping to oversee the project to move the police department from one room in the town hall to its own building.
“It was an interesting job; it was fun,” she said. “Once you have a good thing, you keep going.”
But in 2013, Richards decided it was time to let the younger generation take over. Although that wasn’t the end of her service to the town. Richards is currently in her second year as a member of the school board – once again getting recruited into running.
“With a bachelor’s and master’s in education, how can you say no?” she said.
These days, it’s hard to find a free spot in Richards’s schedule. During the school year, she reads to the first and fourth graders at Mason Elementary School once a month and is already on the schedule for the fall. She took up water color painting a few years ago when a friend needed a ride for a class.
“I figured it would be better than sitting and reading,” she said.
She’s a member of the Mason Historical Society and is part of the library’s book club. She helps with the community supper each month and is the resident dishwasher.
“That’s my forte,” she said. “I do what I can to help out. I never say no. I’m not good at that.”
And while that seems like a lot for a person who’s less than five years from reaching 100, it’s not enough for Richards. She has a vegetable garden in her backyard, along with chickens and rabbits, that keeps her busy and does all the work herself.
“I’m slow, but I get it done,” she said.
But her real passion is knitting. She learned to knit at the age of five and it’s not uncommon to see her with a pair of needles close by – if they’re not in her hands. She knits for charity, gifts and “for anybody and everybody.”
Richards has been to all but five states – Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Utah and Idaho – visiting many with Donald, but at this point doesn’t have any plans to cross the final handful of the list.
“You can’t do everything, so that gets left undone,” Richards said.
She’s hiked Mount Washington more times that she can count, the first time at the age of 12, and has twice been up in a hot air balloon.
But it may come as a surprise that there are things that Richards has had no interest in doing.
“I’d never be an astronaut. I’d never jump out of an airplane,” she said. “Somethings you like, somethings you don’t. If I like it, I do it. If I don’t like it, I don’t do it.”
On July 16, Richards will be the guest of honor when Smokey Bear comes to the library in celebration of his 75th birthday. She’s also next in line for the town’s Boston Post Cane.
It’s safe to say that Richards will try just about anything or do just about anything someone asks of her. Just don’t call her Anne, her given name.
“If anybody walked in and said Anne, I wouldn’t turn my head more than you would,” Richards said.