SHELBURNE FALLS — At just 9 years old, Summer Steele of Plainfield was killed when her backpack got caught in the door of a school bus and she was run over.
Ten years since that tragedy, Summer’s family, friends and other community members are still coming together to honor the little girl whose life was cut short.
“When Summer passed away 10 years ago, obviously it was very hard to function,” Summer’s mother, Shelburne Falls resident Amanda Taylor, recounted at Shelburne Falls Pub and Brew on Thursday night. “One day we woke up and there were heart pumpkins all the way down our road, and the night of her wake, there were pumpkins lining the funeral home, so it just took its own course.”
Each year, pumpkins carved with hearts glow outside homes in Shelburne Falls, and even across the country in Florida and California, where Taylor’s extended family lives. Ahead of Halloween, Taylor’s family and the local community have kept the tradition going by gathering to carve the pumpkins in Summer’s memory. According to Taylor, the signature design comes from her daughter’s hobby of hunting for heart-shaped stones, seashells and sea glass.
“What this is about is more than just lights in a pumpkin,” Taylor said.
“It’s the strength that the people have shown me and Skyler and our family,” Taylor continued, referencing Summer’s sister. “It’s a way to keep her memory alive.”
Attendees took a break from carving on Thursday to bow their heads for a prayer in Summer’s memory, led by The Rev. William Lunney, pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Shelburne.
“Your presence here is a sign of hope that we can support one another in a time of need, that we can truly love our neighbor, and that we can bring light and comfort into darkness and pain,” Lunney told the group. “The pumpkins are a sign of your love and support for Amanda, Skyler and the family — they’re visible acts of love and signs of light that can be carried into our homes and allow that light and that hope to enter into our hearts.”
Among the neighbors, friends and family of Taylor was the women’s softball team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The athletes stopped by to support Summer’s sister, Skyler Steele, a softball athlete who recently committed to playing for the school’s Division 1 team. Over the years, Skyler Steele said her friends have joined in the pumpkin carving.
“It really shows who you have to support you,” Steele said as she hollowed out a pumpkin with her cousin, Shelburne Falls resident Katelyn Gamelli, and Gamelli’s 3-year-old daughter Octavia.
Katelyn Gamelli looked back on her cousin’s cheerful nature, adding that she could tell Summer had walked into a room by her big smile. Shortly before she died, Summer brought her smile down the aisle as the flower girl in Gamelli’s wedding — a tradition that usually comes with the bride watching the flower girl grow up, she said.
“I can’t believe we’re at 10 years,” Gamelli said. “[Summer] would’ve been such a good part of the community. … It’s not fair. It’s never going to be fair.”
In a small village like Shelburne Falls, she said everyone is connected.
“When something happens to one person around here,” she said, “it happens to everyone.”
“It’s a support system for the whole community,” Taylor’s cousin Laura Bruffee echoed. “People need people, whether they realize it or not.”
Taylor has worked to save others from Summer’s fate by advocating for Summer’s Law, a bill currently before the House Committee on Rules that would require sensors on school buses to notify the driver of anyone within 12 feet of the bus.
“It’s an absolute no-brainer,” Taylor said. “I’m more determined than ever to have this legislation go through.”
