April 27, 2025

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The View On Cooking

Beloved CT fast-food worker remembered for her ‘hair, her lollipops and dog biscuits’

NORWALK — For nearly 50 years residents of Darien and, later, Norwalk heard the greeting from the Duchess Family Restaurant drive-thru in the distinctive voice of Anne Shirley Alston.

Alston, a lifelong Norwalk resident, died on Dec. 27 at age 76. She worked at the Duchess on Main Street in Norwalk for 22 years and at the Darien location for decades before, Norwalk Duchess manager Mirian Smith said. To locals she was known “Shirley from Duchess.”

“Shirley was more of an icon here,” Smith said. “Everyone knew Shirley by her hair, her lollipops and dog biscuits.”



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