Everyone in town has a story to tell and opinions to share. In this feature, we shine the spotlight on one resident to learn more about them and their connection to town.

Meet: Darcy Repucci

Hopkinton Independent: What brought you to Hopkinton?

Repucci: “I grew up here. I have lived here most of my life. I went to college in Colorado and then I lived in the city for a little bit while I was getting my master’s and then I came back once I had some kids.”

HI: What do you do for a living?

Repucci: “I am an audiologist. When I was in school here, I saw the speech therapist and thought that I wanted to do that. I have great memories of her at Center School. While I was an undergrad I learned about audiology. Now I have my own practice here in town. I opened about three years ago.”

HI: What do you do for fun in your free time?

Repucci: “I like hiking, which we can still kind of do [right now] as long as we keep our social distancing. [I also like] going to the beach and trying new recipes and cooking and going to concerts.”

HI: What makes Hopkinton unique in your opinion?

Repucci: “It used to be a really small town and everyone knew each other. It’s definitely grown over the years and it’s a little different now than it was when I was here as a child. But I think the [Boston] Marathon and having that experience of closing the town and everyone being able to go and watch it and have so many people come into our town I think is really interesting. It always made me sad when I lived in Colorado to not be here for that.”

HI: What are some of your favorite Hopkinton memories?

Repucci: “Definitely the Marathon. When I went to school here, I used to walk to the high school, and so just walking around the town I think was really nice. Colella’s [supermarket] was always great to go into — sad that that’s gone. Prom here at the high school, being in plays and things like that, and now getting to watch my kids play soccer, do dance in some of the same fields in the town that I grew up in. Pretty cool.”

HI: What are some of your favorite places around town?

Repucci: “I definitely like walking down to the common. We do that quite a bit. Going to the library, we spent a lot of time there when I was younger, and now that it’s been redone it’s beautiful. Some of the older streets, walking down where some of the houses are older, things like that. It’s nice to know the history of them.”

HI: What improvements would you like to see made around town?

Repucci: “I think the roads probably could be fixed. I know some of the roads are a little bumpy and could use some work. I think that as citizens that we need to do a better job of keeping the streets clean, especially now with this whole COVID-19 thing going on. We’ve been going on walks downtown a lot and there is dog waste all over — even the sidewalks, not just the grass. People are definitely not cleaning up after themselves, so I think that’s something that we all need to kind of do a little bit better and take care of our town a little bit better. And maybe the schools, the schools are definitely struggling a little in terms of space. So that might be something that would be nice to work on.”

HI: If you could change one thing about Hopkinton, what would it be?

Repucci: “I think I would stop the building. I think that we at this point need to look at how quickly we’re expanding and maybe slow that down a little bit because the schools are definitely taking a hit and some of the traffic in town [is increased]. Like I said, I opened a business a couple years ago and I have patients that are coming in from other towns, and they will sometimes schedule their appointments around when they know there’s going to be a lot of traffic at the end of the day, and they’ll make sure they’re not in town at that point. They’ll make sure that they have a 1 or a 2 o’clock appointment so that they’re not hitting any of the traffic coming through the town.”

— Interview conducted by Gethin Coolbaugh