Newton Victorian – 129 Jewett Street

Today the family home of my husband will go to market. I’m writing this mainly to honor my mother and father-in-law and to remember the specialness of the home that they loved so much.

 

On December 19, 1969, Jorge and Isabel (Lela) Domeniconi bought the pictured 3-family in Newton Corner. My father-in-law was keen with numbers and saw the opportunity to live well in the giant, old home. The $38,000 price tag was a big stretch for the family and the expenses would be high, but he was betting on on Newton and solid rental income to help. He was right.

 

He knew that Lela would need to keep everyone together under one roof. Soon they came more children, her parents, aunts and uncles. The whole clan lived together. Lela commanded attendance to events big, small and invented. Real hell would rain down on those who did not make it to Sunday dinner at 4pm.

 

 

The vast backyard was turned into a vegetable garden where string beans grew on 8 foot pipes connected by wire and rows and rows of produce grew abundantly from one end of the property to another.  A grapevine sitting over a cement slab was started from a cutting.  It grew into a huge canopy to provide shade on a summer afternoons and homemade wine in the fall.

 

Lela took pride in her outdoor space and especially her garden. She watered endlessly and filled every flower bed with dozens of decorative tchotchkes. Angels would bring blessings and other religious figurines would protect the family from every possible danger. There are statues of puppies, children and birds too. The garden kept her active and happy. Even when she was very frail, she could not walk past a fallen leave without picking it up.

 

 

129 Jewett Street held the Domeniconi family tight and now it’s time to let her go. Today, I will bury a statue of St Joseph, the patron saint of home and family in Lela’s garden. It is said that St Joseph will assist in selling the home quickly, easily, and profitably to buyers who are eager, honest and compliant.

 

 

No one knows who exactly started this tradition, it is said that the original intention behind burying the St. Joseph statue upside down in the dirt was to incentivize the saint to sell the home quickly in order to return him right side up.

 

I think Lela would like this. You can look for me in her garden with a shovel.