Charlie Baker Returns to Needham

November 18, 2024
• Former Gov. Charlie Baker stopped by his old stomping grounds Sunday for the unveiling of a profile in his honor.

A few decades ago, Charlie Baker was just a kid living on Coolidge Avenue, attending Harris School — now Perry Park — and making frequent trips to the Glover Memorial Hospital emergency room with his brothers, all of whom were “klutzes.” He later pumped gas at the Mobil, worked as an usher at the old movie theater and played basketball at Needham High School.

Baker would go on to lead the state as governor for two terms, gaining consensus and earning approval as a Republican in a deep-blue state. He is now president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Needham residents reminded Baker of his roots and the times before politics via a profile on Chapel Street, which tracks his early years through his career in Massachusetts and beyond. The Needham Community Revitalization Trust Fund organized the mural, which will be up through mid-February before rotating to a different Needham subject.

Baker himself attended the unveiling Sunday morning, pointing out old teammates on the mural and sharing stories of his upbringing to a crowded sidewalk.

For many Needhamites who grew up with him, Gov. Baker was just Charlie.

“Charlie was one of the funniest people in high school that I can remember, absolutely, and one of the most gracious,” a former classmate said.

“I’m not going to question your memory on that,” Baker joked in response.

Baker’s introduction to the political world began in his own household — first on Coolidge Avenue and later on Cleveland Road — where his mother, a Democrat, and father, a Republican, held spirited conversations at the dinner table.

At Needham High, Baker took the American Presidency with Mr. O’Donnell, who liked to randomly call on students, and a course with Mr. McKay, “who led the most chaotic class I think I’ve ever been in in my life,” he said. Baker graduated from NHS alongside current New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

“I think for all of us, the most important thing is probably that notion of curiosity,” Baker said, “and the high school did a beautiful job of making that possible.”

Paul Good, chair of the Revitalization Trust Fund, remarked at Baker’s political legacy and his ability to reach across the aisle, garnering support from both sides of the spectrum.

The “From Needham to the World” project started as a way to celebrate and commemorate Needham residents who “went off into the world and did amazing things,” Good said. And Baker certainly fits that bill.

“One of the quotes you’ll see on the panel is, ‘Politics and public life are not for the faint of heart,’ which is really true,” Good said. “It’s a very difficult, challenging position to be in, but he created a lot of really great success.”

Previous profile subjects include astronaut Sunita Williams, cartoonist Bob Larson and “Pansy King” Denys Zirngiebel.

Looking across Great Plain Avenue, Baker recalled old local businesses now gone, including Harvey’s Hardware, the loss of which is “kind of a heart breaker,” he said. At the old Bergson’s Ice Cream, the Little League teams went for post-game ice cream, “win or lose.”

Some things, however, never change. When the Commuter Rail passed through town that morning, Baker remarked how familiar the train whistle is. As a kid, he helped make floats in the Fourth of July parade. And the Needham-Wellesley football game is still played every Thanksgiving.

“There’s a rhythm to the place, and we all just kind of enjoyed, in some respects, the predictability that came with that,” Baker said. “In the winter, you were out shoveling people’s walks and driveways. The fall, you were raking leaves. The spring, try to get a job at the gardener, Winslow’s.”

Former Needhamites have a way of coming back, Select Board Chair Kevin Keane. “There’s a certain gravity to the town that just keeps pulling you back in,” he said.

Much of Baker’s experience growing up rang true for Keane, a Needham native, and it remains a special place for them both.

“It’s really nice to see a Rocket launch from Needham and make it to the world,” Keane said. “He’s done a great job. It’s great to see us circle back. He has obviously arrived, because he now has a mural in Needham.”

Baker still manages to visit town occasionally — his father still resides here. Old friends greeted him after the unveiling, catching up on lost time. And though his high school basketball days are behind him, Baker still shoots around in the driveway.

Some of the storefronts may have changed, people have come and gone, but the town’s spirit and sense of community persists. Baker now lives in Swampscott, but Needham hasn’t left his heart.

“This town put a tattoo on me… It was a great town to grow up in,” Baker said. “I’m sure it still is.”