Relay For Life ‘defies description’
Hope Lives Here - Relay For Life of Northeastern CT
PUTNAM — “Paige, this is the first time I feel normal” Heather DiRaimo, mother and cancer survivor, told her eighth grade daughter. Heather was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Four years later, Heather has transitioned to a maintenance medication and Putnam High School junior Paige Perry co-leads the event with Whitney Pynn and Shane Donahue.
Donahue said: “The bottom line is Relay defies description. You have to experience it.”
This year marks the 29th anniversary for Relay For Life of Northeastern CT. The 24-hour event kicks off at 10 a.m. May 31 and concludes June 1 at the St. Marie-Greenhalgh Sports Complex.
At Relay’s core are three moments: Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back. 
Celebrate. We celebrate survivors at 10 a.m. as they check-in and prepare to walk the first lap. 
Survivors fighting cancer and caregivers follow the thrivers, who have overcome cancer. 
This lap ends with our free brunch (pre-registration required).
Remember. Following the free survivor dinner at 6 p.m. (pre-registration required), the open mic for participants to share their cancer journeys begins. 
Personal reflection turns to collective remembrance as we read luminaria name. Luminaria are illuminated white bags that line the track, and are dedicated for those impacted by cancer. 
Our last public lap is the silent lap led by a bagpiper.
Fight Back. At 9 a.m. June 1, we end with a rally cry–giving awards, opening mystery raffle items and outlining the work ahead. 
This family-friendly, volunteer-driven event is a symbol of hope, said Donahue. In addition to free activities, live entertainment, crafters and food trucks, participants may: Register for our Cornhole Tournament to win money; Enter the inflatable park with face-painting, balloon animals, boomerang demonstrations, and concessions for $10 per child.
In addition, there are “Pop-Up Events,” each with a free activity, guest judges, silent auctions and mystery raffles: Relay Reads Swap wrapped “mystery books” with peers, decorate bookmarks and raise funds to buy books for youth receiving cancer treatment; Plant Party Swap plants/cuttings, compete in free pot decoration and take home new houseplants by donation; Let’s Get Cooking Cake Decorating Competition: Compete to make the best cake and swap recipes with fellow participants as we build a Relay cookbook. Community Art Show with live demonstrations, crafts, and an art show followed by a silent auction; Chubby Dog Gaming Cafe and Arcade: Play Magic the Gathering tournaments, Dungeons and Dragons, board games, trivia and attend Celebrity Barista Night.
To register a team, RSVP as a survivor for free meals, sign up to volunteer or learn more, visit linktr.ee/relaynect and click “Join this Relay.”

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More pavers, perhaps ramps
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Work continues at the Veterans Park — on all fronts — with the goal some significant progress by Memorial Day.
Last week Harvard H. Ellis Tech Masonry students returned to install 140 pavers. This week they will head back to the park to install about 600 pavers which represent the veterans found in town cemeteries including Aspinwall, Munyan, Grove Street, Nancy Drive and more. Robert Challinor Jr., chair of the Veterans Advisory Committee and spearhead of the park project, said another 600 pavers representing veterans found in St. Mary’s Cemetery will be installed at the park next year.
When some rehabilitation of the newly discovered Day-Bowen Cemetery in East Putnam is done, “there will be more pavers for veterans there to add to the list,” Challinor said.
At the Veterans Park last week, pea stone was placed on top of processed gravel in the now-expanded Court of Honor. Ellis instructor Andrew Hawes said 17 students are learning how to install a proper base and then how to properly install pavers. When that is done, he said, polymeric sand is swept across the pavers. With the addition of water, that sand, which contains some cement, locks in the pavers.
On order is a hefty black chain that will enclose the Court of Honor.
Two bronze plaques, which have been in the works for more than a year, are finished and will be installed on the two WWII granite monuments. More than 1,400 names are on those plaques.
The stone wall that was under the vinyl fence along the back of the park, bordering with the synagogue, was removed, replaced with loose stones. Challinor said that wall was “catching trash.”
That will come in handy on another phase the group is working on: Building two ramps, one on each side of the vinyl fence. Ellis Tech Masonry Department head Elliott Hayden was there last week, with 15-plus students, measuring for the concrete ramps. Because the synagogue owns the fence area, Challinor will put together a presentation for the synagogue. He hopes permission might be granted in time for the ramps to be installed in the fall. He added the park group intends to have a sign created for the synagogue parking lot — that parking is courtesy of the synagogue. 
Hayden said the distance for the ramp at the edge of the fence closest to Church Street is 23 feet and the slope is 20 inches so that will mean that the ramp’s pitch will be gentle, less than 1 inch per foot. “That look like it will work,” he said. 

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Left: Elliott Hayden measures for a ramp. More photos Wed. night on our FB page. Linda Lemmon photos.

Hometown Heroes of the Civil War 
The Putnam brothers served in the Civil War
By Michael Rocchetti
Brothers William S Putnam and John Day Putnam, both from nearby Brooklyn, served during the Civil War. 
William S. Putnam
William S Putnam (1843-1864) was a Corporal in the 12th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company C. He was the great-great-grandson of General Israel Putnam. He enlisted on Jan 28, 1862, and mustered in as a private on Jan 31, 1862. He was promoted to Corporal on Oct 3, 1863. He re-enlisted on Feb 17, 1864. His unit was sent to Louisiana in late 1862, and he fought in several engagements there including the Siege of Port Hudson,  LA. In mid-1864 his unit was redeployed to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and he fought at the battles of Winchester, Fishers Hill and Cedar Creek – where he was killed in action on Oct 19, 1864.
He was born Jan 30, 1843 in Brooklyn CT, the son of William H. and Eliza Putnam. He had four sisters and two brothers – one of which was John Day Putnam who also served during the Civil War. He is buried at the Old Trinity Church Cemetery, Brooklyn CT.
John Day Putnam
John Day Putnam (1837-1904) served honorably as a Sergeant in a Wisconsin regiment, and went out west after the war, serving as a federal agent. He won the admiration and respect of the people of Los Angeles for his daring exploits in combatting human traffickers, rescuing and repatriating Chinese captives, unwittingly imported into a life of indentured servitude in the mine pits, sweat shops, and brothels of the Wild West. John Day Putnam was also admired and respected back home in Brooklyn. In-fact, he was the honored guest who unveiled the General Israel Putnam Equestrian Statue at the dedication ceremony in Brooklyn on June 14, 1888.
He was born June 19th 1837 in Brooklyn CT, was educated in the local schools, and in March 1859 married C. Ellen Lowell of Sharon, CT. He afterwards moved to Wisconsin and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted as a member of the 1st Wisconsin Regiment. He served 3 years in the Army of the Tennessee under Generals Rosecrans, Thomas and Sherman, and participated in the battles of Perryville and Murfreesboro and other minor engagements. 
At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin and in 1864 engaged in farming until 1873, when he entered the flour milling business. He was a representative in the Wisconsin legislature of 1883. He then moved to California. In 1891 he was appointed as a Federal Agent in the US Treasury Department and later was appointed as the Chinese commissioner for the Pacific coast, holding the office at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife, four sons, and three daughters. He is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery, in River Falls, Wisc.
Hometown Heroes is a series published in the Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger with this mission: We owe it to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to make sure that they are never forgotten, and that the memory of their service and sacrifice will forever live on in the hearts and minds of the grateful people of Putnam.

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