For 45 years, one man has been busy in Dorchester’s Four Corners: Lawrence “Larry” Thornton, or “Mr. Larry” to his neighbors. A builder by trade and gardener in retirement, he never works alone.
Thornton is a fixture of community events in the neighborhood. Visitors on any weekend may find him doing volunteer work — carrying a clipboard, hanging flyers or wielding a shovel in a community garden.
Last Saturday, as so many before, Dorchester residents met at Greenwood Memorial Church to discuss city living under the auspices of the United Neighborhood Association, the civic group in Four Corners. Thornton brought doughnuts.
On their docket were presentations by a local school and neighborhood development corporation, crime reports, dialogue with a city council aide and an update on the state budget from Rep. Russell Holmes. Each discussion was lively.
Thornton interjected, with another: a nearby school’s foundation had cracked and begun to leak. It was likely to be addressed, by an official in the audience or else Thornton’s diligent follow-up.
“He calls back,” said UNA’s president, Theresa Latson, of the man she calls “our greatest advocate” because “he stays on top of everything until it’s followed through. Mr. Larry is UNA’s go-to-guy.”
Latson, who self-identifies as “his junior” in age, met Thornton when she was building her home 16 years ago. Already cleared by the city to proceed laying a foundation, she was summoned to meet her neighbors nonetheless.
“I was scared out of my head because I felt like I was being bullied,” she recalled. “But, then I realized that they [were] just members who really, truly cared about the community. I met Mr. Larry at that meeting and I feel like we’ve been kindred spirits ever since.”
At 77, Thornton remains devoted to his work: connecting his community to resources and cultivating Boston’s beauty.
Born in North Carolina, he was raised by his grandmother, Maude. After high school in Virginia he moved to Boston. His mother, Evelyn, lived here.
“When I came here to Boston, [I] went straight into the construction trades,” he said. He made a career in the finishing trades.
Before retirement, he labored for nine years on the Big Dig’s tunnels to South Boston.
“I come out after the Big Dig, go home and clean up,” he said. Retired, he committed himself to gardening.
Thornton delivers produce from his plants to his neighbors. “I mostly give all my garden out to elderly people, people that really need stuff,” he said.
“He’s got gardens all over the city,” said UNA’s secretary, Darlene Washington.
“It’s in my heart to do gardening,” Thornton said.
Gardening helps him stay active. “I got to move,” he said, “because if I don’t move, I’d be holding a crutch and I’d be stiff.”
Thornton brings people together. “I refer to him as our public relations person,” Washington said. He is an outreach expert that she largely credits with orchestrating attendance at the association’s meetings.
Washington has known him for over a decade, as long as she’s been civically active.
“He’s one of those people, you can’t exactly pinpoint when you met him,” she said. “It just feels like you always knew him.”
For others, meeting Thornton was unforgettable.
Elizabeth Mitchell, a nine-year resident of Four Corners, met Thornton the day she moved in. She was gardening with her mother when he came by to introduce himself. Invited to UNA’s civic meetings on the spot, she’s been attending ever since.
Mitchell calls Thornton for help with everything from abandoned cars to gardening. He offers produce to her and her mother after every harvest. “He is that kind of person, he is always giving, always giving,” she said.
On Saturday, Mitchell brought her 18-month-old daughter, Nia-Grace, to UNA.
“Everybody knows Mr. Larry,” she said. “Even Nia-Grace knows Mr. Larry.”
Mitchell hopes Four Corners remains one where “all generations participate in the community.”
She said UNA distinguished Four Corners from other neighborhoods.
“It’s awesome; this is the first community that I’ve been in where I experienced having a civic association,” she said, contrasting her part of Dorchester to areas where her family or friends own homes.
“We have a community here, where whatever issues we have, we have a point person we can bring that to,” she said, referring to Thornton and Theresa Latson. “We all kind of partner together.”
For state Rep. Russell Holmes, Thornton is “just a community servant, and has been that way since I’ve known him.”
Thornton “still delivers when you don’t ask,” said Holmes of unanticipated produce deliveries to his elderly mother.
Even so, Holmes expects to work when Mr. Larry calls.
“That means he saw something before me,” said the lawmaker. He said Thornton will “make sure I see it and make sure I get it done.”
“Anybody that knows Mr. Larry will say how much they love him,” Latson said.
“It’s just nice to know that there are people who truly care about the community and the city as a whole,” she stated later. “And that describes Mr. Larry.”
