Laura Putterman, 50

GROTON, MASS. – Laura Putterman was born on Feb. 18, 1975, in Manhasset, New York, to Susan L. Palitz, originally of Roslyn, New York, and Louis G. Putterman, originally of Great Neck, New York. Due to traumatic injuries sustained during her hospital delivery, she had cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder and was beset by profound cognitive impairment throughout her life. Blessed by nature with an infectious zest for life, she nevertheless learned to flourish in her own way and to inject a powerful spirit of joy into many lives. 

At age 9, she moved from a specialized care facility in New York City to a nursing home for cognitively and physically challenged children in Groton, Massachusetts. It proved to be better equipped to care for her, as well as being located not far from the then current home of her father. Following surgeries at Children’s Hospital, Boston, which helped to improve her nutritional status, she grew more capable of engaging with her environment, becoming the music loving, radiantly smiling young woman who was loved by many of the extraordinary staff of her facility over the subsequent decades. Her Groton nursing home became for a time the Children’s Extended Care Center, then the Seven Hills Pediatric Center, run by the Seven Hills Foundation of Worcester, Massachusetts. It always maintained an extraordinary standard of care and attracted an exceptionally caring staff, including deeply devoted doctors, nurses, therapists, teachers and nurses’ aides.

Beginning in her mid-teens, Laura had two half siblings, Patch Tseng-Putterman and Mark Tseng-Putterman, who as children loved visiting “Laura’s place” with their dad and at times also with their mother, Vivian Tseng. Many wonderful caregivers – among them nursing assistant Setsuko Gil, nurse Michelle Smith and teacher Haydee Adams – were won over by the radiant smile that would light up Laura’s face when she heard the sound of their voices or felt their gentle touch. She loved attending the performances of musicians who entertained at the facility, traveling in a facility van to a variety of field trips in the community and hearing her dad, later sometimes accompanied by brother Mark, singing and playing a keyboard to accompany favorite songs by Elton John, James Taylor, the Beatles and others. Some choice shakes of a maraca or tambourine added further magic for her.

Though Laura was strong and still had a youthful face as she reached her 50th birthday, muscular and nervous ailments had begun to take their toll, and her heart gave out a few weeks after her birthday with her father at her bedside and her mother anxiously awaiting word. The family expresses deep gratitude to the staff of Seven Hills Pediatric Center, the EMS team of the Groton Fire Department and the doctors and nurses of the emergency room and critical care unit at UMass Health Alliance Hospital, in Leominster, who offered the best possible care with love, respect and kindness during her last hours. In addition to her parents and siblings, Laura is survived by her cousins, who are the 19 other grandchildren of her late paternal grandparents, Milton and Eileen Putterman, and the two grandchildren of her late maternal grandparents, Laurence Louis Palitz and Beryl Palitz Daus. She is also survived by uncles and aunts, Sharon, Charles, Anne, Amy, Will, Lisa and their spouses and partners.

Any wishing to make a gift in Laura’s memory are encouraged to consider the Seven Hills Foundation, directing their gift, if possible, to Seven Hills Pediatric Center, or to give to CoFAR (the Massachusetts Coalition of Families and Advocates), an organization that fights against the forced removal of disabled individuals from large group settings into medically inappropriate small group homes. That movement almost tore Laura from her home in 2008.

The group home/de-institutionalization crusade is, sadly, supported by the misleadingly named “ARC (formerly Association of Retarded Citizens) of Massachusetts,” and the family will continue to fight against the ARC’s ethically indefensible policies as a tribute to Laura’s fighting spirit.