Jerry M. Czuprynski

In the very early morning of October 28, Jerry Czuprynski, surrounded by love, peacefully passed away at the Holyoke Medical Center.
Jerry, born in Buffalo, NY on February 6, 1950, was the son of the late Ruth (Smith) Schiffmaker and the late Harry Czuprynski. He graduated high school in Cheektowaga, NY and soon was drafted into the Marine Corp. He served honorably.
After leaving the Corps, he moved to New England to work at King’s department stores in Newton and Hyannis, MA. In 1974, he was transferred to the company’s store in South Portland, Maine to be their youngest store manager ever.
Through one of his employees, he met Ginny Hall, the woman with whom he’d spend the next 50 years. She was smitten the first night. The love bug took a little longer to bite him, but after many hours at Two Lights State Park gazing over the ocean and steaming the car windows at the Saco Drive In, he could see a future with her.
Jerry and Ginny married at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on August 21, 1976, and moved to Agawam, Massachusetts after yet another job transfer. In 1978, they were blessed by the birth of their first daughter, Jessica.
Time changes many things and Jerry’s career with Kings ended when Jessica was an infant. He and Ginny agreed that the best path forward for their family was for him to return to school. He graduated Cum Laude from Holyoke Community College and Magna Cum Laude from Western New England College. He had a new career path: Information Technology.
After graduation and a year after moving from “The Money Pit,” to the home the family lives in still, they were blessed again with another baby girl. As he was with Jessica, he was a most attentive Dad to newborn, Julie.
Life was hectic, two careers were being juggled and when the daycare provider called to say one of the girls had a fever, or good Lord, lice, Jerry would, without question share “sick duty” with Ginny…many, many years before remote work arrangements existed! And, while he couldn’t find the kids’ pediatrician’s office and he barely knew their teacher’s names, the girls were (and remained) the center of his world.
Jerry was the girls’ “fun parent,” and he was their best lunch companion. With him, they regularly visited parks, the dog pound, Riverside Park, went sledding, took long walks, played darts and pool (they even had their own cues) and they explored. Nearly every outing ended with lunch at a nearby restaurant. With him, the girls learned about foods that never would show up on Ginny’s plate.
He was a firm believer in learning by experience. Ask Julie if a sparkler is hot!
While he chided Ginny for being too easy with the girls (number 2, mostly) he’d slip them money any time he thought they needed it. The breakfasts he made for Ginny and Julie before work were legendary. He was setting up Ginny’s breakfast on October 4th, the day he fell and broke his leg.
In retirement, he golfed every day he could at courses in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. He formed friendships with many old duffers. He loved to watch movies and football, and he made his weekly picks in the MassMutual football pool, very “scientifically.”
After his golf rounds, he wandered miles around Agawam with Jessica’s pups Saki and Zeus. He also happily dog-sat for his sister’s pups Bailey and Simba when she and her husband traveled. Then, along came Julie’s pups…Chief and Matilda. Quite a bit larger and stronger than the others, they knew a more fragile Jerry.
God and his faith were important to Jerry throughout his life. He did volunteer work at his and Ginny’s parish and even after Ginny registered them at a different church, he continued to financially support the one they’d joined back in 1976; it was where their girls received their Sacraments.
When Ginny retired six years after him, they began their world travels with a long-awaited trip to Hawaii. There, Jerry golfed at the best course he ever played. He texted Ginny pictures of nearly every shot he took as she sat on the beach. The greens were perfect! Both Ginny and Jerry cherished later travels to Italy, Greece, Paris, the British Isles, Ireland, Amsterdam, Croatia, Turkey, the Caribbean and Alaska.
In 2019 after a simple outpatient surgery, Jerry would learn the price for being stationed at Camp Lejeune. He was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis. By the end of the following August, it had progressed to AML and in September of 2020, he had a stem cell transplant at Dana Farber/Brigham in Boston. He endured endless complications from then on.
His doctors, NPs and nursing staff at Dana Farber/Brigham were kind and compassionate, but they couldn’t stop the new problems from surfacing. Before his death, he battled graft vs host disease in his lungs, skin and eyes. He didn’t complain and when asked, told Ginny he’d do it all again because the transplant gave him more time with her and the girls.
We will always remember his sense of humor, beautiful blue eyes, giggles and laugh.
We will talk about him every day and we will laugh again.
We will love and miss him endlessly.
To cherish his memory and share as many “Jerry jokes” as possible, he leaves his wife of 48 years, his daughter, Jessica Czuprynski Yates and her husband, John and his daughter, Julie Czuprynski. He also leaves his sisters, Patricia (Richard) Dukat, Judith (Jim) Studer, and Rose (Gerald) Bell, his brothers in law, Charlie (Sue) Hall and Dan (Michelle) Hall, nieces and nephews and many, many friends. Calling hours will be Friday from 4-6 pm at the TOOMEY-O’BRIEN FUNERAL HOME, 1043 Westfield Street, West Springfield. There will be a Funeral Mass Saturday at 10 am at Sacred Heart Church, Chestnut Street, Springfield. There will be a private burial at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations in Jerry’s name may be made to the Dana Faber Cancer Institute, Attn. Contribution Services, 10 Brookline Place-West 6th Floor, Brookline, MA 02445, or to the T.J. O’Connor Foundation, 66 Industry Ave., Springfield, MA 01104.