GILL — Of all the words that could be used to give a glimpse into Jenna Putala’s 28 years of life by those who knew the late high school softball star and later, softball coach, a few stand out: positive, spirited, vibrant and selfless.
“I think, honestly, pick any compliment you want and apply it to Jenna, and it’ll stick because it’s accurate,” Turners Falls head softball coach Gary Mullins said about his former player. “She was just a wonderful human being, and cancer stinks.”
An estimated 400 people gathered on Saturday at the Schuetzen Verein to celebrate Putala’s life. Putala died on Aug. 9, after a two-year battle with a very rare form of sarcoma called PEComa. She received treatment at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
In accordance with Putala’s wishes, guests donned their brightest colors to celebrate, not mourn. The weather followed suit with a bright, sunny afternoon. Across the venue, sunflowers, whether in a vase or as a design printed on someone’s T-shirt, highlighted Putala’s love and connection to the flower that is also the symbol for sarcoma awareness.
‘The best person you’ll ever know’
As evidenced by the hundreds of attendees at Saturday’s celebration, Putala touched many lives in her 28 years. Putala’s family members, friends, former teachers and coaches, colleagues, players, even her palliative care doctor from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, all made their way to the event.
Jack Putala, Jenna’s brother, expressed his gratitude to the hundreds of attendees. Marie Putala, Jenna’s grandmother, read a poem dedicated to Jenna before Brendan Lortie, Putala’s fiancé, went on to describe the “glow” she had over the smallest things in life.
“Jenna is the best person you’ll ever know,” Lortie said in an interview.
Jenna Putala was born in Greenfield and raised in Erving, attending Erving Elementary School before going to Turners Falls High School and Great Falls Middle School. She played basketball, soccer, and the sport that would become her greatest passion: softball.
While at Turners Falls High School, she made her mark in the sports world as a back-to-back state softball champion in her junior and senior years, earning Western Mass Softball Player of the Year for both seasons. She graduated from Turners Falls in 2016 as the salutatorian, and went on to play softball at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Putala then started coaching after she sustained her fourth knee injury while playing as a freshman at Wesleyan. She coached the Turners Falls 14-and-under Suburban League softball team and took over the Western Mass Warriors 18-and-under softball team in 2017, which was started by her former coach Brian McGan.
She later became a graduate assistant in Nichols College’s Athletic Communications Department, where she earned her master’s degree while volunteering with the softball program. After that, she became an assistant softball coach at Babson College — a post she held up until her cancer diagnosis. Her obituary says she “poured her heart” into her players and the game she loved.
After high school and into her college years, Putala kept in touch with her mentors, like coaches McGan and Mullins.
McGan said he first met Putala when she was 12 years old. He had just started the Western Mass Warriors softball team that he hoped she would someday join.
McGan recalled holding a conversation with her about the mechanics of the game.
“When we were all done with our conversation, Jenna said to me, ‘I want to play for you,'” McGan recounted.
In the time that Putala played for McGan, he said she was a great competitor, a great hitter and second baseman, and that every time she stepped up to the plate, something good was going to come out of it.
“Every time we faced a top-notch college pitcher, and she was up, I didn’t have to blink an eye,” he said. “She was just that competitor, that kid, that loved the game.”
After her career was cut short due to injury, Putala went back to her roots with the Western Mass Warriors, restarting the team and becoming coach and president. Despite McGan having retired, he said he and Putala stayed connected. He took pride in seeing her take what she learned from him and Mullins, and apply it to her own coaching style.
Throughout her cancer treatment, McGan and Putala kept in touch, with McGan describing her as having spirit even at a lowest points.
Although he had hoped to come visit her, Putala died before he got the chance. If he had seen her, McGan thinks he knows how it would go.
“I’d just give her a big hug and say, ‘Hang in there,’ and she’d probably tell me, ‘I got this,'” McGan said. “Those would be her words to me.”
A legacy of positivity and selflessness
Putala’s name will always remain in black and white in the headlines she made as an athlete for many years, but beyond the print, her positivity, selflessness, and love for softball and her players are what those close to her see as being her legacy.
“She’s a special athlete, but she’s a more special person,” Jenna’s father, John Putala, said about his daughter.
Jen Luciano, athletic director and dean of students at Turners Falls High School, was Putala’s seventh-grade teacher. Luciano called her “an amazing kid” who was mature beyond her years. She said she watched Putala grow throughout her softball career at the high school, and they kept in touch after graduation, with Luciano attending softball games while Putala played at Wesleyan.
Although Luciano said she saw Putala cope with injuries that created challenges for her as an athlete, she also saw her go through cancer treatment. Luciano also participated in fundraising efforts at the high school to help support treatment costs.
Despite the situation she faced, Luciano said her former student remained positive and was “spreading love to people” during the week leading up to her death. Luciano remembers Putala as a vibrant person with an infectious laugh, now with a legacy of “giving back, showing pride in your community and working hard.”
A scholarship fund, called The Jenna Putala Sunflower Fund, has been created, honoring Putala’s wishes upon her death. The fund will support charitable efforts, such as an annual scholarship to benefit a student athlete at her alma mater.
Another effort comes in the form of an annual grant to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to fund an experience or trip for a young adult patient who is receiving cancer treatment. This was something Putala benefited from herself during her treatment there, according to the donation page.
Jill Putala, Jenna’s mother, said her daughter contributed $40,000 of her own money to this fund before her death, and the annual scholarship amount will be decided at a later date.
Even recently, Putala was continuing to make a positive impact for those dealing with cancer through sports. She had plans to attend a charity golf tournament to benefit Cancer Connection, a nonprofit Putala benefited from that helps cancer patients and their families navigate treatment. The event raised $14,745 for the organization.
Jill Putala said her entire family feels “deeply touched” over the outpouring of support shown for Jenna, even before Saturday’s celebration.
When asked what she thinks people can learn from Jenna, Jill Putala reiterated a saying her daughter always loved about “being where your feet are” and living in the present.
Ending the day of celebration, a double rainbow appeared above Barton Cove.
“I just think it was Jenna’s way of just letting us know that she was there with us and watching over us, and just felt all the love that surrounded her and us,” Jill Putala reflected. “It was just her way of saying that she thought the celebration was just perfect.”
The Jenna Putala Sunflower Fund can be found at tinyurl.com/5yskdpvh.
