Oral History: Shirley Hutchins

Jenny Nathans interviewed Shirley Hutchins on August 16, 2025, at the Country Kitchen in Walpole, MA

What is your full name?

Shirley Branueis (left) and Alice Lowe of Weld Hill Street pose between #74 and #76 while shoveling after a mid-1950s snowstorm.

Senjia Shirley (Brauneis) Hutchins. Shirley is my middle name, but I have gone by Shirley my entire life. Brauneis is a German name. My father's parents, Katie Merz and John Martin Brauneis, are from Germany. My mother's parents, Elin Ericksson and Herman Niemi, were from Finland. I am part Finnish and part German. 

When and where were you born?

I was born on September 11, 1937, at Quincy City Hospital in Quincy, Massachusetts. I will be 88 years old next month. My father’s name is Henry Brauneis, no middle name. He was one of eight children. My father lived longer than any of them. He died when he was 92; everybody else passed on before him. My mother was born Lilya, and her maiden name was Niemi, which is Finnish, and then she changed [her first name] to Lillian; it was much easier.

Where did your parents bring you home after you were born?

They lived at 44 Braintree Avenue in Quincy. And then my father bought the family home at 76 Weld Hill Street, in Jamaica Plain, in, I think it was, February of 1939. I moved in there when I was 18 months old. I lived in that house for 75 years. My grandfather (John Brauneis) built the house in the late 1800s. The house was completed in 1895. My father was born there in 1902.

When you say he built the house, did he have it built by someone else, or was he the builder?

John M. Brauneis' Sons. Co., Carpenters & Builders (to the right of M.J. Killion Florist). Picture dated July 1937.

Well, he might have had somebody build it with him, but he built the house. He was in construction. He was a carpenter. He had his own business in Forest Hills down on Washington Street [now 3698 Washington Street]. It was right next door to Killion Florist. It said, “John M. Brauneis’ Sons Co,” on the window. My father eventually became a carpenter and a builder. He built insurance companies, banks and churches, and remodeled banks, put additions onto churches, onto insurance companies, and worked for a construction company.

What about your mother? Did she work?

My mother was a hairdresser. She had her own shop in Forest Hills, as well. I don't remember what number that was. I mean, I was just a little girl. As far as I know, it was called Lillian’s Beauty Shop, but that I do not know for sure. I can still see myself skipping down Weld Hill Street, crossing Woodlawn, crossing Tower Street, walking down into my mother's store and saying, “Hello!” She almost had a heart attack. So, she called my father, and she said, “How are the kids?” He said, “Oh, they are fine. They are playing down the backyard.” And my mother said, “Well, Shirley is here.” He said, “I'll come get her.” And she said, “No, I'll bring her home, when I come home.”

Do you have siblings?

I had a brother, Richard, who was three years younger than I. He was killed in an accident in Florida in 1998; he was 57 years old. He had four children, two girls and two boys.

76 Weld Hill Street. Photo taken in September 2025.

Tell me about the house that you grew up in, at 76 Weld Hill Street.

It was a two-family, and we rented out the first floor. I remember the house was painted yellow with brown trim. It had clapboards. I remember my father had put wooden shakes on the house which were painted gray with cream trim. 

The rooms that I remember are the two bedrooms in the front attic and an unfinished spare room which was used for storage. The back attic had two rooms. One was “finished” with heat registers back in the day. When the family converted to oil heat, there was no heat in that back room. That room and another unfinished spare room were used for storage. At one time, the house was heated with coal, as there are still some hot air registers in the floors which are still there. 

Was it always a two-family? Or did your parents turn it into a two-family?

It was always a two-family. They always had somebody renting on the first floor. [My family] had the second and third floors.

Tell me about the Forest Hills neighborhood when you were a child.

I remember the neighborhood – we had a bunch of kids. We were all playing all the time. In the summertime, we'd go up to the Parkman Playground on Wachusett Street around nine o'clock in the morning and stand in line to wait for our swings. Then the guy would put the swings up, and we'd swing till lunchtime, then go home and have somebody else swing for us, and then come back and swing until it was time to go home for dinner. Then we had a doll carriage parade up at the playground, and that was fun.

What was Weld Hill Street like growing up? Did you have a lot of friends on the street?

Yes, mostly up at our end, at Wachusett. We used to go out and play dodge ball, or Simon Says, hide-and-seek. When playing hide-and-seek, we would just go everywhere. We'd run through neighbors’ backyards, hide behind trees.

We used to have gas lights on our street. They were made of cast iron. There was a man known as the Lamplighter who came every night to light the gas lights on Weld Hill Street. We used to wait for him to do it. I don’t recall what he used, but it was a long slender rod of some kind. It probably had a flame that he would put up to the lamps to light them. So, when we played hide and seek, we'd stand against the pole, and go, “Bore a hole, bore a hole, right through to the sugar bowl. Who will place the magic dot?” Somebody would poke your back, and you had to guess who that was.

My girlfriend and I, we used to play “house.” The sun didn't come until the afternoon on my porch. So, we'd be on my front porch in the morning. I had a doll's bath, and the fellow, Eddie Griffey, who lived across the street from me, I washed his hair in my doll’s bath. We set it up with table and chairs, and had the doll and the carriage, the whole deal. And then in the afternoon, we would go over to Margaret's. She lived at 73 [Weld Hill]. We used to play over there, then go down the street and buy a Table Talk Pie; we would share it with others.  

After a snowstorm on Weld Hill Street in the early 1950s. Pictured are Mary Ann and Marty Foley (who lived at #74). On the right is Margaret Cox (who lived at #73) who was babysitting the Foleys.

What establishments in Jamaica Plain do you remember from your childhood?

On a corner where they now have condos, on Weld Hill and Hyde Park Ave, used to be a bakery called Webb's Bakery. Then they had a fire. That building was torn down, and then the Fireside [Tavern] was built. That parking lot was where the bakery was. I was maybe 11 or 12 years old at the time.

And then on the other corner was Benny's, which was a mom-and-pop store. They had a soda fountain, so you could go in there and get ice cream. And then further up on Hyde Park Avenue, on the same side as Benny's, was a First National grocery store. There was a cleaners. Not sure what else was on that side. 

Across the street from that, there were two or three triple-deckers. On the lower level was a cobbler, and his name was George. He used to sleep in the back of his store-- I don't know if he had a wife or she died -- but he lived in the back of the store. And then there was the Toll Gate [Inn], and we used to cut through there to go over onto Washington Street to go to Roslindale, because Hyde Park Avenue was one-way. As you go into Hyde Park Avenue, there was a Scott gas station, and then there was Hattoff’s [gas station]. Go around that and go to Weld Hill Street. Weld Hill Street used to be two-ways. Could never be that today, with all the cars. 

And then on the side of the street where the bakery was, there was a fish market, Johnny Hales Fish Market. There was Dolly's Candy Store. There was a Chinese laundry. Oh, there was Donagan’s Meat Market, on the corner of Woodlawn and Hyde Park Avenue. And then there was O'Brien's Drugstore at the corner of Tower and Hyde Park, and then it became Johnny Owens.

You lived right next door to the Forest Hills Cemetery. Did it play a role in your childhood?

We used to go coasting (sledding) over there. And we would walk over there and pick wild blueberries and Lilly-of-the-Valley. One of the fellows who lived down the street worked in the cemetery. He used to climb up over the cemetery fence and down to go to work. And then we had the bell tower. It would ring at eight o'clock in the morning; that's when the guys started work. Ring at 12, for the lunch hour. Rang at 12:30 for them to return, and then at 4:30 when work is over. I used to be able to see from my kitchen window all the way across the field, and see gravestones.

And then in the fall, the cemetery used to burn that whole area, controlled burns, and then the grass would come up and make it green. It was all open field. During the war there were Victory Gardens in the open field of the cemetery where there are a gazillion trees now. 

Where did you go to school? 

I went to the Francis Parkman, which is right up on Walk Hill Street. I went there from kindergarten through the sixth grade. In seventh and eighth grade, I went to Girls Latin School, and it was very, very hard. I just couldn't do it anymore. All you did was study. You'd be in school all day. You come home, do homework. You might be able to go out for a little while, come in and have dinner and do homework till almost midnight. I ended up with hives from my ankles to my thighs, so I couldn't do that. 

So, I left there and went to the High School of Practical Arts, which was in Roxbury. It's a wonderful school that had sewing, cooking, art, everything that I loved to do. Then they closed that when I was going into my junior year. So, I ended up at Roslindale High School and graduated from there in ‘55. And then I went to Boston Clerical School (a secretarial school) in Roxbury on Warren Street. I graduated from there in ’57. So, I've been out of school for 70 years. Doesn't seem possible. Where did those years go? They converted Rozzie High to senior housing. My aunt moved in there; she loved it. 

Editor’s Note: The Francis Parkman School is now the Boston Teachers’ Union Pilot School.

Did you belong to any clubs?

I belonged to the book club when I went to secretarial school. I was in the glee club in Roslindale High. There were no clubs at Practical Arts. I belonged to a bowling group with the church, and I also belonged to one at work. 

I was a member of the Church of our Savior, in Roslindale, an Episcopal Church, which now houses the Boston School for Modern Languages. It’s on South Street, right across from the railroad tracks. At church, we had a young people's fellowship. We met every Sunday evening at 5:30. Sometimes, we would just meet at the church and go for a walk up to West Roxbury. I kept busy. Went to an Episcopal camp down the Cape, on Monument Beach. It was fun. I was also in Girl Scouts. “On my honor, I will try to do my duty to God and my country.”

How long were you in Girl Scouts? 

I don't think you could go in until you're like, 12 or 13, so, probably till I was 15. We met at the church. We’d go on some day trips. We went to Waverly Oaks for a picnic, and we'd bring our own lunch. We had a nice spot right by a running brook. The scout leader said, “Don’t go in there.” So, guess what I did? I did. I walked down where it was sandy, picked my foot up and I had sliced the side of my foot. So, that ruined me for the rest of the day. I didn't cry till I got home. I walked upstairs and said, “I cut my foot!” My father took one look at it, and he took me to the doctor.” I was going to Girls Latin School at the time. 

Did you date when you were young? Where did people go on dates?

I did, but not a lot. I dated a couple of fellows from church. Other than that, not any real dates that went on and on and on. People would go bowling on dates. They’d go out for a cup of coffee, and they would go for ice cream. They’d go to Simco’s on the bridge in Mattapan and get coffee or a hot dog. I went roller skating over at Co-Ed [Rollerdome] in Allston. We used to go on Saturdays. Me and my girlfriend would go all the time, and I could never skate backwards. But that was a fun thing to do. 

Were there any spots in Jamaica Plain that people would regularly hang out at? 

The Terminal Lunch used to be down [in Forest Hills]; they served breakfast, lunch and dinner. A lot of people would go in there, because I think there was a pool room in the back. I know there was a pool room in the back of Slattery’s, so people would congregate there. We didn't really congregate. If we did, it was usually up at the playground. But as far as hanging out, when I got older, I went up to Roslindale. We used to hang out at the Washington Spa. That's where we used to meet and get an English muffin and a cup of coffee and just sit and chat. And we'd go up to Howard Johnson’s; it was up on Morton Street by the cemetery. There are condos there now, but I used to walk from the house and go out and get an ice cream. We’d also wait for the ice cream man to come. We'd have a dime. The bell would ring, and off we'd go get an ice cream, sit on the front porch and eat it. 

Do you have any memories of the Great Depression and WWII?

I remember the ration stamps. If you went to buy a pair of shoes, you had so many ration stamps that you had to give them for the shoes. You couldn't buy unless you had ration stamps. I think even when you bought food, you had to use ration stamps.

I remember having to pull down all the shades when they had air-raid drills. I remember that like it was yesterday, because everything had to be in darkness, you know? So, we kept the shades down in whatever room we were in. In 1945, my mother and my brother and I went up to Newmarket, New Hampshire, when I was about eight years old. We stayed at my mother's sister's the whole summer, and I remember when the war was over, because they were doing sirens [in celebration], when WWII was over.

Did anyone in your family fight in WWII? 

My mother's brother-in-law, my Uncle Len. He was in Japan. My father was in the National Guard, and I have pictures of him on a horse, in his army uniform and everything. It’s really something.

Weld Hill Street after a snowstorm in the 1970s (taken from #74).

Was Jamaica Plain a safe neighborhood when you were growing up?

Absolutely, we never had to worry about a thing. I remember going to church in Roslindale on Christmas Eve; of course it was snowing. So, I go home on the bus, get off, and walk up Weld Hill Street. It was so quiet and peaceful, and it was like 12:30 at night. Never had a worry in the world. I had to trudge up the hill and stop to catch my breath, because trying to plow through all that snow was a little hard, but it was always safe. A lot of people used to leave their doors open. I mean, we never did, but you never heard of any break-ins.

How did people get around if there were not a lot of cars?

They were walking or taking a bus. The only school I could walk to was Francis Parkman; the others I had to take a bus. 

Did your family own a car? 

Shirley Hutchin's father, Henry Brauneis

My father did. He had a Hudson Coupe with a bench seat in the front, and a pull-down seat in the back. When my brother and I were getting bigger, [my brother] Richard sat in the front with my father and mother, and then I had the whole back. I would put the other seat down and put my legs out. My dad later sold the car to a police officer who had 12 children; they weren't going to fit in that, that's for sure. My uncle used to buy Buicks, and he would turn them in every three years. So, my father bought a Buick from him. My father eventually bought a new Buick in 1955. He bought two new Pontiacs, and a secondhand Pontiac Grand Prix. 

I didn't take lessons to drive until I was 21. I had no reason to. I came home one day, and my mother's got this pink slip in her hand. I said, “What's that?” She said, “It’s a temporary license.” She already knew how to drive, but she went for a refresher course. So, she eventually got her license, and she didn't do much driving, but at least she had it. So, I said, “If she can do it, I can do it!” They had a driver's school in Jamaica Plain and in Roslindale. On Friday nights, I would go to the one in Jamaica Plain for classes. On Saturdays, I would go to the driving school in Roslindale. When we got behind the wheel to drive, the instructor had a set of brakes on the passenger side of the car for safety reasons. 

Did your family ever go into the city, downtown?

Oh, sure, we'd go. My father would drive in and go to Chinatown. His favorite place to go was 9 Tyler Street. We would go there for celebrations like birthdays, and when I graduated from high school. We would take the train and go in, walk through the Public Garden during Christmas, and go shopping. My father always took me in to buy my shoes. I had a very large foot, so I couldn't go into any regular store. There was Walsh's Shoe Store across the street from the Arch Street chapel. I remember going in there and being fitted for shoes. You would stand up on this thing and you would put your feet in it, and they would x-ray to make sure that shoe fit okay. They did that back in those days. They didn't know the dangers of radiation

I also worked in Boston. I worked at a women's specialty store called Jay's. They had one in Boston on Temple Place, one in Hyannis, and one in Wellesley. I worked there as a stock girl. Say that one store needed to know if you have this in this color or this size. If we did, we put it aside, and then I would sit in the back, and I would write a slip for all these things that would be picked up and delivered to Wellesley with the salesperson's name and their number. I enjoyed doing that. Sometimes they would have a special sale, and they would let me sell, but I didn't have a number, so it would go to one of the regular salespeople. But that was fun.

Was that your first job, or did you have a job before that?

No, I didn't have a job before that. That was during high school and secretarial school. For my next job, I worked as a medical secretary for a surgeon in Boston on Beacon Street; his named was Dr. John J. Todd. I had just turned 19 when I went to work for him in 1956. And then he rented out a spot at a building that had just been built in East Milton called the Sheldon building. So, we moved there, and I worked there until 1968. In 1968, I gave my notice, and I went to work at Lahey Clinic. And I worked there for 31 years, full-time.

What was your role at the Lahey Clinic? 

I was a medical secretary in cardiothoracic surgery. I loved the job. They built a hospital, and we moved into it right after Thanksgiving. They had three girls in one area. There is no way you can answer a phone and talk to people with three phones and three people talking. So, then they just had me and another friend work in one area and the other girl was placed in an examining room.

Did you work anywhere else after that? Or did you retire?

I retired, so I've been retired for 25 years. I said I retired early because I'm going to smell the flowers and not push them up. It just gave me more time with my husband as he got sick in 2009 and died in 2010, so we were able to go on a lot of trips. He had his own business out in Walpole. I didn't have to worry about teaching somebody my job and then going back and cleaning up a mess. If one of the secretaries was going away, they would call me and ask me to come in. And that was fine, but I said I would only work in that department as the doctors knew me, I knew them, and I knew the protocol. The day right after I retired, was January 1st. I was sitting at my computer. I felt like a fish out of water because I had been working for so many years, but I got used to not having to go to work.

How did you meet your husband? 

I met my husband, David, at the Epiphany Church in Walpole (Episcopal). I’ve been going there since 1965. A friend of mine who I grew up with at my church in Roslindale, became the organist and music director [at the Epiphany Church]. He asked me to join the choir. So, I did, and I was in the choir up until a year ago. So, I joined the choir, and I saw this guy walk in, black wavy hair, gorgeous blue eyes, handsome. He had a wedding ring on, and I said, “Oh, darn!” But later he separated. In December 1978, he called me and invited me to go to dinner. So, we went to dinner at the Cafe Budapest, which was in Copley Square. We closed the place. They're vacuuming the rug, and I said, “I think we need to leave.” The rest is history. 

We got married on September 6, 1980. We would have been married 45 years this year. We were married 30 years, and I lost him two months later, from pancreatic cancer. He was a great guy, a lot of fun. You never knew when he was going to come into the office. I would turn around and he would appear at my desk. So, he'd say, “Can you go to lunch?” So, we'd walk down to Kenmore Square and grab lunch.

Did he work near your office? 

He was an outside salesman for an electrical supply company, so he could go anywhere. After we were married, he sent me a fax at the appointment desk. It said, “We need to take these days off for vacation. More information later.” Then he sent me a picture of the Appian Way, the Colosseum that he drew; we were going to Italy. We went the first week in January, in ’95. And then the next time he did that, he said, “You need to take this day in May till this time. More to come.” Then he sent me a picture. I had no clue what it was, so we went to my cousin’s in Essex for Christmas Eve. I gave it to [her] son, Paul. Paul took one look at it, and he says, “Oh, you're going to Great Britain.” So we went to England, Scotland and Wales, and we also went to Germany in 2002. We [also] went to a lot of his Navy ship reunions. 

Did you and David have any kids?

No, but David did [with his previous wife]. He had two sons and a daughter. They lived with their mother.  

What restaurants did you eat at in Jamaica Plain?

If you went to the right, usually it was the Center Street Café. Or Doyles, very little parking, but they had the best fish. So, I used to get that all the time. We went up to the Pleasant Cafe up in Roslindale, and their pizza today is as good as it was when I was a teenager. Their pizza's delicious.

And then there was the Centre Street Café. The waitress was GeorgeAnnette Chatterley, and Mark was the waiter. I don't remember his last name, but he was a landscaper. When I was getting ready to move, I needed to have my lawn mowed. Not much of a lawn, just weeds. I got a hold of Mark, and he said, “I'll come and do it,” and he mowed it twice. I said, “I want you to let me know how much I owe you. I don't want you to do this for nothing.” He said, “Consider it a welcome home gift or a housewarming gift.”

They were great, especially after David died. Well before he died, we used to go to the Centre Street Café almost every Saturday night, great food. And I got the same thing all the time. The first time I went, I asked for the maple glazed salmon over a bed of creamy polenta and broccoli. The broccoli was not quite the way I like it. It was too al dente. So, I said, “Could you have them cook it little more?” They did, and it was perfect. So, every time I'd go, GeorgeAnnette would say, “Are you going to have the salmon with the perfectly cooked broccoli?” and I said, “Yes I am.”

David died in November of 2010, and I didn't go to the [Centre Street Café] until just before Christmas. When I walked in, Mark said, “I'm afraid to ask.” I said, “He passed away a month ago.” Of course, everybody was crying. So, I ordered my meal, and I had my glass of wine and water and the meal, and I ordered the dessert. Then, I said, “May I have my bill?” And they said, “No, you may not. We’re paying for it.” And when my birthday came around, they all came out of the kitchen with whatever I asked for and a dessert and it had a candle. It was like a little family place.

What do you think has changed most in Jamaica Plain?

Shirley Hutchins on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2020.

Traffic, and condos everywhere. I read a lot about break-ins and cars being broken into today. And these condos are not attractive. You know, where Ukraine Way is, that whole area, where those condos are, was all open space, with trees and everything.

When and why did you move out of Jamaica Plain? 

I moved out on August 26, 2014. I've been at New Pond Village in Walpole for 11 years. I passed papers on the house on the 29th of August in 2014. I just couldn't handle it anymore. It was just me. I had tenants. I had to maintain the house, which I did. And, I have the taxes to pay, gas, electric, all of that, and I just couldn't do it, and I was lonely. I didn't want to be by myself anymore. I wanted to be somewhere where there were a lot of people, and I knew a couple of ladies who lived at New Pond Village. And instead of driving 15 miles to church, I only have two miles to drive to church, and all my friends were out here. I loved my house [on Weld Hill Street], lots of memories there growing up. I didn't think I would ever leave it. I loved where it was. But there comes a time in your life when you have to make a change that's good for you, and that's what I did.