Every year, The Newtown Bee is privileged to share the stories of Newtown residents and organizations, and among the many highlighted in 2014, were these stories.

Newtown resident Paul L. Sirois was named executive director of Regional Hospice Foundation, as of January 1. A financial planner for 17 years, most recently vice president and financial advisor for Union Savings Bank, Mr Sirois previously served as chairman of the Regional Hospice board.

Along with his financial expertise, Mr Sirois brings to his new position his seven years of experience of having been on the other side of what it takes to make Regional Hospice and Home Care of Western Connecticut. He has focused on raising support for the new Regional Hospice Center for Care in Danbury, scheduled to open in early 2015.

The Newtown Bee looked at the similarities and differences of Newtown’s first historian, Ezra Levan Johnson, and its current historian, Dan Cruson. Nearly a century separates their lives, but uncanny similarities between the two men make them brethren. Both teachers, Mr Johnson taught at South Center and Sandy Hook School districts, and served on the Board of School Visitors for 58 years, until his death in 1914. Mr Cruson retired in 2005 from Joel Barlow High School in Redding, after teaching in the history department there for 37 years. Mr Johnson was a member of the Men’s Club, as is Mr Cruson. In 1905, Mr Johnson served on the committee for the celebration of Newtown’s Bicentennial. One hundred years later, Daniel Cruson served on the committee for Newtown’s Tercentennial celebration. Mr Cruson shared his insight into the duties and honor of being Newtown’s first official historian.

The Newtown Bee connected in early 2014 with documentary filmmaker Karyl Kreizinger Evans. Ms Evans, who grew up in town, is the producer, director, writer, and editor of an upcoming documentary film, Letter From Italy, 1944: A New American Oratorio. Ms Evans had the opportunity to film the making of the oratorio with the Greater Middletown Chorale. The oratorio music is written by Sarah Meneely-Kyder, a composer out of Wesleyan, with her sister, Nancy Fitz-Hugh Meneely, producing the lyrics.

The oratorio is based on letters and poetry written by their father, Dr John Meneely, during World War II, a medic with the elite 10th Mountain Division. Her documentary tells the underlying story to the oratorio. Updates on Letter From Italy, 1944: A New American Oratorio are at karylevansproductions.com.

An interview with Newtown resident Dr Michael Baroody focused on his drive to create The 12.14 Foundation, following the tragedy of December 14, 2012. Dr Baroody thought of how a world-class performing arts center could become a means of moving people forward in a positive manner through the healing arts.

Along with Dr Baroody, Richard Pilbrow of Theater Project Consultants, Jay Winuk of Winuk Communications, Inc, and start-up entrepreneur Fred Holahan now make up the board of directors of the 12.14 Foundation. The former director of Goodspeed Productions, Michael Price, serves as an advisor. The 12.14 Foundation has since put in place quality performances using the talents of local and area students, as well as Broadway professionals. American Idol winner and country music star Scotty McCreery serves as The 12.14 Foundation’s first national goodwill ambassador.

It was a different kind of father-daughter road trip for local dentist Steve Landin, DMD, FAGD, and his daughter, Melissa, in March. The two were part of a 32-member dental mission team to Comayagua, Honduras, from the University of Connecticut, where Melissa is a student in the dental program. The dental mission did more than 300 procedures, including 75 extractions, 20 root canals, and 200-plus fillings, in one very hot week.

Newtown Senior Center Director Marilyn Place looked back in April at her 25 years serving and loving Newtown’s senior citizens at the 14 Riverside Road facility. A mother of two “who volunteered all over the place,” Ms Place stepped into a part-time position as coordinator of programs in 1989, working under Director Marvi Fast. Within weeks, with Ms Fast out on an extended sick leave, she was catapulted into a position as acting director, and two years later, into the top position.

“Twenty-five years went by like this,” Ms Place told The Bee this past spring.

“Cool Correspondents” in May recalled their days as junior reporters for The Newtown Bee. It was 1997 when Newtown Bee reporter and web designer Andrea Zimmermann and then-managing editor, now editor, Curtiss Clark mentored a new generation of reporters — some not yet enrolled in first grade. The local children who responded to the call for Cool Correspondents wrote short articles and book reviews for the paper. While most have not gone into journalism as a career, the experience was fondly remembered by the young men and women who responded for this story.

Brenda McKinley stepped into her role as director of the C.H. Booth Library on Tuesday, July 1, possessing not only the skills the Board of Trustees felt important to carry out the duties of that position, but with knowledge that could only come from someone who has been intimately involved in the local library.

Ms McKinley has been employed at C.H. Booth Library since 1995, when she began as part-time reference librarian. She was on the staff of the library during its expansion, and in 1998, started taking on responsibilities for systems, becoming head of tech services in 2008. She also began supervising the circulation department at that time. Ms McKinley worked with other staff members to create a space where residents could use computers, recharge devices, and be warm during the devastating storms of 2011 and 2013.

As a staff member, Ms McKinley also experienced the trauma of 12/14, working to provide community members with refuge, and useful programs and reading materials. Going into her first year, Ms McKinley has accepted the challenges that of the ever-constant trying to do more with less and keeping up with a changing world, to best suit the needs of patrons.

Longtime residents Julie and Pete Stern said goodbye to Newtown this past summer, and shared some precious memories of their 40 years here before they left. The couple was well-known in town for their service on town commissions, to civil and social groups, their volunteer work in schools and with youth groups, and active support of the C.H. Booth Library. The Sterns left June 2 for their new home in Haverford, Penn.

When Edward F. Wolf, Sr, arrived at the St Rose Gathering Hall on June 13 for an installation ceremony of the new Knights of Columbus officers, he was surprised to find himself the recipient of the prestigious George Meany Award. The award is an AFL-CIO Executive Council honor recognizing union members “who have made a significant contribution to the youth of their communities by volunteering in the programs of the BSA [Boy Scouts of America],” according to scouting.org.

As just one of two young people selected in January 2013 to serve on the 15-member Connecticut Nutmeg Book Award 2015 Intermediate Selection Committee, Newtown Middle School eighth grader Michael Arther read more than 30,000 pages in 120 books over the course of eight months — 40 of those books during last summer’s break from school. The Nutmeg Book Award allows children in grades 4-12 to read and vote for quality literature each year, from a list of ten nominated titles chosen by selection committees at elementary, intermediate, teen, and high school levels.

While not a Newtown resident, Ken Fay is an elder at Christ the King Lutheran Church, and he happily shared some exciting news with The Bee this summer. Mr Fay, a senior video producer in Seymour for Comcast, is the writer, director, and producer of a ten-minute mini-documentary called Wags ‘n’ Tales, a behind-the-scenes look at the Lutheran Christian Charities (LLC) Comfort Dog Program. That documentary received a genuine Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Mr Fay is also a trained handler, working with dogs from the LLC.

One of the 17,000 people each year who volunteers with Appalachia Service Project, working toward a goal of providing “warmer, safer, and drier” homes for families in Central Appalachia, is Katie Temple, a graduate of Newtown High School. Katie is currently in a second year-round staff position in Lee County, Va. She shared with The Bee this summer how happy she is to be part of this service that transforms not only the buildings, but also the lives of the homeowners, and the lives of those who volunteer.

The Bee was fortunate to have a conversation with George William Wheeler this past summer. At the age of 95, precise dates and places were not easily recalled. But in his reminiscences, in August, he recreated a scene of by-gone days in Newtown and the role he played in shaping the more modern town center of today. Mr Wheeler died December 16.

Wedding bells did double duty Sunday, August 10, at Newtown Meeting House, when Chris Roberts and Laura Garcia-Dore, and Carolyn Roberts and Rob Poit were joined in marriage in back-to-back weddings there. It is the first time in her 22 years as administrator, said Sherry Paisley, that a double or back-to-back wedding had been scheduled at the Meeting House. Chris is the son, and Carolyn the granddaughter of longtime Newtown residents Jeanne Roberts and the late Skip Roberts, who died just weeks after the double celebration.

This year’s Labor Day Parade theme “Write On, Newtown!” celebrated the wealth of authors and illustrators who call Newtown home, and the Parade Committee named one of Newtown’s best-known authors, Sydney Eddison, as grand marshal. Best known for her gardens and the knowledge of gardening she has shared over her 50 years as a resident of the town, Ms Eddison is a prolific writer. Not only has she published seven books on gardening, she has written two novels (unpublished), hundreds of articles for The New York Times, Litchfield County Times, and other publications, and is a poet.

Thousands of residents cheered Ms Eddison on September 1, as she smiled, waved, and tossed pencils to the parade crowd.

Support for the Memorial Sidewalk project, intended one day to stretch from Main Street to Sandy Hook, was apparent in the number of officials attending the dedication ceremony, September 10. In addition to George Benson, Rob Sibley, Dr Thomas Draper and wife, Pat, Joseph Draper, Mr Manna, and the Gumans, among those also present were First Selectman Pat Llodra, Police Chief Michael Kehoe, Borough Zoning Officer Jean St Jean, Health Director Donna Culbert, Newtown Parks & Recreation Director Amy Mangold, and State Representative Tony Hwang (R-134). Mr Sibley noted that the sidewalk would represent a community and physical connection of the two parts of town. “That vision,” he emphasized, “comes from the Draper family.” Mrs Llodra spoke, as well, recalling her first visit with the Drapers after 12/14. “They said, ‘We’re creating a fund’ — and here we are,” she said. “Out of tragedy,” she reminded the group, “good things come, and nobody is more representative of kindness than the Draper family.”

In November, seven members of Kids In Deed Organization (KIDO) stood in front of the heartstrings tunnel, a piece of playground equipment designed exclusively for Healing Hearts Center for Grief and Loss, by Kompan Play Institute of North America. The creation of the playground on the grounds of the Regional Hospice Center of Comfort, Care & Healing construction site, in Danbury, was due to the efforts of a number of Newtown Middle School students, headed by Ryan Patrick, now a student at Newtown High School. The young people raised more than $50,000 through a variety of fundraisers to pay for the special playground.

As Veterans Day drew near, Sandy Hook resident Holly Gottmeier shared her pride in being part of a patriotic family. Her husband Richard is a retired colonel in the US Army and served in the reserves for 28 years. Her son William has served in the Army since 1994. Another son, Peter, served four years in the Marines, and one daughter, Sarah, was in the 101 First Airborne Unit of the Army from 1994 to 1998. Another family member, a foster son, is now serving in Afghanistan.

Rich Murdy told of a coveted treasure he now calls his own, a 1929 Ford Roadster pickup truck. Rich was the lucky bidder at the November 15 auction held at Cherry Grove Farm on Palestine Road. An avid collector and restorer of antique vehicles, Rich hopes to get the truck running and on the road by next summer.

Stories unfold in the lives of Newtown and Sandy Hook residents, every day. The Newtown Bee appreciates the opportunity to have shared those events with readers throughout 2014, and looks forward to many more in 2015.