32 Welland Road

Master plumber William Henry Russell Goudey (1885-1972) built this house for his family in 1927-28 and lived in it until the late 1940s. Goudey did the initial plumbing and gasfitting work on many of the houses built in Blake Park.

Goudey's shop was at 31 Harvard Street in Brookline Village. He was born in Nova Scotia, as was his wife, Melvaretha Porter Goudey (1885-1974). They were married in Boston in 1906.

The Goudeys had three children. The oldest, Maurice Russell Goudey (1907-2002), known as Russ, was a jazz musician who went to Europe after graduating from Dartmouth College with a music degree in 1929. (He appeared on at least one recording with Django Reinhardt.) Russ Goudey then led his own jazz orchestra in Argentina for a number of years. He lived at the Welland Street house for a short time after returning to the U.S. in 1940, and later moved to New York where he continued his music career.

The Goudey's second child, Marion (1908-1980), was listed with her parents at this address throughout the period covered by this survey. She became deaf at an early age, and worked as a librarian at one time. (Librarian is given as her occupation in the 1939-42 street lists; no occupation is listed for the other years.)

Irma Goudey, the youngest child in the family, was first listed in the street list as a student in 1939, when she turned 20, and was listed through 1943, when she was shown as a secretary

Melva Goudey's mother, Ada Porter, also lived with the family in this house until her death in 1941.

The 1930 U.S. Census listed the residents as: W.H. Russell Goudey, 45, master plumber; Melva P. Goudey, 44; Marion E. Goudey, 21; Erma N. Goudey, 11; and Ada V. Porter, 66. The house was valued at $22,000.