Rochester’s oldest man left his mark on the town, at just about every intersection.

“The first thing I did when I got elected as a Selectman was I got my secretaries to call the statehouse and find out how much street signs would be,” said Ralph Walker. “They were $200.”

That was around 1962 and before that “people would just guess at the streets,” he said.

Walker, who turned 100 on May 7, remembers a lot about his past.

Born in Saugus in 1914, he still recalls the first airplane he saw, the price of the first car he owned and the first time his family met his wife, Eleanor.

As a kid, Walker’s family moved to Maine for a time while his dad worked in a shipyard for a dollar a day.

“That was good pay back then,” said Walker.

He and his brother walked to town barefoot when not using the family’s carriage. On one of their trips, Walker recalls seeing an airplane in a field near their house.

“An airplane in those days was quite a novelty,” he said. “[The pilot] came to stay with the people next door to us. He bundled her up all in coats and took her up for a ride.”

Walker remained fascinated with flight and the world beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

When one of his son-in-laws learned to fly in the 1970s, Walker would “bum a ride.”

He also had an interest in the stars and planets.

“I was an astronomy hound,” said Walker. “I built my own telescope. Built an observatory in the backyard.”

Walker spent a year grinding the 12-inch mirror for the telescope.

“When you looked at the planet Saturn with it, you could separate the rings,” he said.

Throughout his life, Walker held a number of jobs. As a young man, Walker’s uncle got him a job at a lumberyard where he earned $25 a week.

The first thing he did with his paychecks was buy a Model T Ford for $200.

“Six wheels with a rumble seat,” said Walker, "it was the best car I ever had.”

He later bought a 35 Ford V8 that he used to court his future wife, Eleanor.

A mutual friend introduced the two on New Year’s Eve 1937, and Walker said to himself, “Oh, this is the girl for me!”

After that initial meeting, he often drove to Eleanor’s hometown of Dartmouth to visit her. They were married seven months later in September 1938.

When Walker brought Eleanor to a family gathering, he got the thumbs up from an uncle.

“He turned to his brothers and sisters and says, ‘I knew when he got one, he’d get a beauty!’” said Walker.

One of the couple’s four daughters, Cynthia Underhill, said the two were a great match.

“They took it very serious. They were very devoted parents,” she said.

The pair moved to Rochester, where they lived for more than 40 years and were active in the community.

“They made the best of the Rochester life,” said Underhill. “She was a Girl Scout leader. Dad was Selectman. They were in the church. They cherished the town, and I think the town cherished them.”

Walker held a number of jobs as his four daughters were growing up. He delivered clams and quahogs to upstate New York, was a manager at a lumberyard and finally worked at the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds until retirement.

Walker was also on the first board of Coastline Elderly Services.

What Underhill remembers fondly is her dad’s pleasant disposition.

“He was always happy with the simplest things. He’s a lovely father,” she said.

And while Walker attributes some of his longevity to the food at Island Terrance Nursing home where he has lived since his wife passed away in 2009, it also has something to do with his girls.

When asked if he enjoyed bringing up daughters, Walker replies with a quick “yes.”

“You know, having four girls, they pay attention to their father,” said Walker. “With boys, to hell with their father.”

In addition to his daughters, Underhill, Lorna Walker, Sheila Andrews and Charlene Walker, Walker has eight grand children and 11 great grandchildren.

As the oldest Rochester resident, he also holds the Boston Post, which is passed to the most senior resident in a town.