One of my hardest tasks, each December, is going through 12 months of columns and choosing a handful of striking quotes from hundreds of memorable conversations to create a collection for year's end. Here it is, assembled from a tumultuous 2021, with this note:
These thoughts are simply emblematic of so many who trusted me with their stories. I am grateful to all of you, and I offer this piece with the best possible New Year's wishes to a region of tremendous readers.
Jan. 4 – “The love, I think it’s what keeps us going. It’s in the players and the fans and the organization and the city of Buffalo – oh, I miss the city of Buffalo – and it’s in everybody, he’s in everybody. To see what I saw today? Ezra is still with us.” – Veronica Borjon, longtime girlfriend of the late Ezra Castro, or ‘Pancho Billa,’ after Josh Allen arrived at a Buffalo Bills game in a 'Pancho's Army' jacket.
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"There's daddy!" - Andrea Bruzgul and her children - George and Reagan, both 6, Sadie, 4 and Gordon, 2 - view a billboard put up to honor dad and husband J.B. Bruzgul.
Jan. 15 – “How blessed was I to know someone you love even more every time you see them?” – Josh Bruzgul on his brother J.B., a husband and father who died in his sleep at 41 of a massive heart attack, and whose friends put up a billboard in his honor near Highmark Stadium, just before the first home Bills playoff game since the 1990s.
Jan. 20 – "We call it going to 'Neilialand' when we talk about those days." – Sue Spooner, remembering a middle school teacher she loved in Syracuse, Neilia Hunter Biden. Joe Biden was sworn in as president about 49 years after his wife Neilia and 13-month-old daughter Amy died in an automobile accident.
Every December, Sean Kirst sifts through 12 months of columns to pull out a few memorable quotes from the past year.
Jan. 21 – “We didn’t know anything about it until we were adults. But she always put things about herself on the back burner.” – Joy McVay, whose mother Irene, a legendary Buffalo educator, had died at 86. Irene was central to a walkout by teenage African-American students in Farmville, Va., that remains a landmark moment for civil rights.
Jan. 25 – "We'll get 'em next year." – Bart Stancampiano, 95, retired letter carrier and fervent Bills fan, expressing the universal Western New York hope after Buffalo lost to Kansas City for a slot in the Super Bowl. Bart died a little more than nine months later, about midway through this season.
Marcos Vazquez, 21, reacts after being informed that an anonymous donor gave him $4,000 to help him secure a car for work. He is with Amy Betros, right, president and director of St. Luke's Mission of Mercy.
Feb. 6 – “I want to ask you to take care of something for me.” – The first line in an anonymous letter from a reader who donated $4,000 to help buy a car for Marcos Vazquez, a young man with close ties to St. Luke's Mission of Mercy who lost his job in the pandemic, then struggled to find a new one after his vehicle broke down.
As 2017 nears its close, News columnist Sean Kirst shares some favorite quotes from a year’s worth of columns, “part of the gift of hearing the great stories of Buffalo and Upstate New
Feb. 20 – “We can raise this up. This is something in my heart.” – Durie Burns, a Buffalo State teammate of the late Buffalo basketball legend Randy Smith, on dreams of a statue to honor his old friend.
Feb. 27 – "The thing about the fish fry is that it says we're here, we're part of the neighborhood and we're not going away." – Betty Rost, a volunteer at St. Bernard’s Church in Kaisertown, on the meaning of a Lenten fish fry in the pandemic.
Joseph Surdyk, left, and Betty Rost keep take of the orders and collect the money at the St. Bernard's fish fry.
March 2 – “It wasn’t about being honors students. It was about going on to be good people.” – Valentina Cossio, a student at St. Bonaventure, offering her impression of a central message of Dennis DePerro, beloved school president and Buffalo native lost to Covid-19.
March 4 – “I want to survive in life.” – Steel plant retiree and fitness enthusiast Charles Washington, 82, after receiving his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on a crowded day at the Second Baptist Church in Lackawanna.
Owen Chase, 6, on his family ice rink on McKinley Parkway in South Buffalo.
March 13 – “People ask how we did it, and the answer is, 'If it was you, you’d do it, too.' ” – Colleen Farry Chase, mother of 6-year-old Owen Chase, who returned to organized hockey after 30 months of treatment for childhood leukemia.
Here are just a few examples of memorable quotes from men and women whose paths columnist Sean Kirst was lucky enough to cross in
March 14 – “It gets you and it breaks you down to pieces.” – Oretha Beh, forced to leave a longtime job as a home care worker during a grueling recovery from Covid-19.
March 14 – “They look a little different, not like before, because everything has changed.” – Helen Kyaw of Buffalo, on the subtle strain upon her children after so much time at home in the pandemic.
March 25 – “We are singing for those who lost their lives.” – Win Min Thant, one of the Burmese community leaders of Buffalo rallies to raise awareness of the aftermath of a coup in Myanmar. With Buffalo String Works, she helped gather a crowd to perform, “Do you hear the people sing?”
The Buffalo community comes together to sing for the people of Burma/Myanmar at the Bidwell Parkway on March 27th, 2021.
On February 1st, 2021, the Myanmar Tatmadaw seized the power illegitimately; and have turned into terrorist regime. The People of Myanmar has taken up the streets to protest the military coup d'état. Protesters have employed nonviolent resistance that includes acts of civil disobedience, labor strikes, a military boycott campaign, a pot-banging movement, a red ribbon campaign, and public protests. The terrorist military has violently cracked down the peaceful protesters; and created reign of terrors on civilians day and night. Police and soldiers have turned into thugs; and violently killed the peaceful protesters. As of 31st March 2021, at least 520 civilians, including 40 children, are killed by military and police forces, and at least 3,070 people are detained.
There are thousands of people from Burma/Myanmar residing here in Buffalo, NY, because of decades long terrors and attacks imposed on ethnic minorities and civilians who simply want democracy and peace. All ethnic Myanmar people residing here in Buffalo are in solidarity with the people of Myanmar. We are standing in solidarity with the people of Myanmar against the military coup d'état.
#SpringRevolution #ေႏြဦးေတာ္လွန္ေရး #အေရးေတာ္ပံုေအာင္ရမည္ #CDM #CRPH #fundraising
https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-support-civil-disobedience-movement-in-myanmar
April 1 – “It feels like 99.” – Wry response of Sister Ursuline Helinski, who turned 100 on the day she received her second vaccination shot at Villa Maria, where six sisters died during the early surge in the pandemic.
April 6 – “For something to keep for that long? It’s just amazing how some people make their mark on the world.” – Kath Anderson, after the scrawled name of her grandfather, Jerry Toomey, a plumber, was one of several from 1935 discovered in the basement of the old Statler Hotel.
After getting vaccinated, Sister Ursuline Helinski is presented a bouquet of flowers for her birthday by John Beyer, the CEO of Catholic Health's LIFE Program for seniors.
April 8 – "I won’t be silent if I live." – Sonia Klein, 96, who spent much of her life in Buffalo, on her vow as a young Jewish woman in German concentration camps, where her parents and younger brother died.
April 10 – “The priority should be people, and the priority has to stay the priority. Nobody lives by the Skyway.” – Stephanie Geter, a longtime community activist, on why she sees confronting damage from the Kensington Expressway as far more important than demolishing the Skyway, a shift in emphasis that grew in strength.
The names of Jerry Toomey and Ralph Blainey, written on a concrete beam while they were doing some plumbing in the basement of Buffalo's old Statler Hotel in Buffalo in 1935.
April 17 – "Wait a minute. Does Cariol have a lawyer?” – Rami Nashashibi, MacArthur Fellow and founding executive of Chicago’s IMAN, who introduced former Buffalo police officer Cariol Horne to legal help that included a one-time White House counsel. Horne was awarded a full pension after a judge ruled she was wrongly reassigned and fired after intervening in a struggle, during an arrest, overturning earlier rulings.
Enjoy these memorable quotes, gleaned from a year’s worth of tales involving joy, whimsy, hardship and passage throughout Buffalo and the wider
April 29 – “This is all I have. What do we do?” – A distraught Leonard Kostelny, 88, holding up $10 after realizing he left his credit card home and lacked the cash to mail tax forms and buy stamps at the Orchard Park post office. A stranger stepped forward to take care of everything, a bright spot in a hard year for Kostelny, whose wife, Alfreda, died in November.
May 8 – “It’s like you appreciate everything in life again.” – Frank Amati, a coach at Shoshone Park, during a glorious opening day for Hertel North Park Youth Baseball, which had lost a season to the pandemic.
Clyde Terry was honored for his 90th birthday by Shea's Performing Arts Center for his decades of service as a volunteer.
May 11 – “Get your champagne! No waiting here!” – Famous refrain of Clyde Terry, familiar Shea’s Performing Arts Center volunteer, honored with his name on the marquee for his 90th birthday.
May 29 – “Make sure Tom is all right.” – The last statement to his sister Bonita from Neal Dobbins, revered leader of a Buffalo parents' movement to nurture children and prevent violence. He died of Covid-19 while hospitalized across the hallway from his brother Tom.
May 31 – "I would like to have you meet the fellows in my platoon ... They are the best damned bunch of soldiers and men that were ever assembled for anyone. Course, I would give my life for them any day of the week because I know for sure that they would do the same for me." – Excerpt of a letter from 2nd Lt. Merritt PeQueen to his Buffalo family during World War II. He died in action in 1944, and his niece, Cheryl Smyth, still reads the letter every Memorial Day.
June 1 – "I realize that our real story is how fortunate we are that A.J. escaped." – Bill Dozier, a Buffalo-raised Marine Corps retiree. His grandfather, A.J. Smitherman, continued a legendary journalism career in Western New York after surviving the Tulsa race massacre; a 100th anniversary remembrance drew solemn international attention.
June 27 – “All of this. It’s like I’m reborn.” – Don Stoyle, who spent decades as a youth counselor after surviving profound injuries in a teenage motorcycle accident, on a chance in his late 50s to help coach Dunkirk High’s baseball team.
July 10 – “Oh, my God. I feel my heart for him.” – Jusuf Mulahmetovic, a commercial painter who handled the final touches for a crew that painted the entire Seneca One tower, speaking of Tim Cox, a 51-year-old construction superintendent fatally injured in a fall at home.
Jusuf Mulahmetovic, completes the final small section of Terracotta paint on the historic Seneca One Tower project on Washington Street in Buffalo on Friday, June 11, 2021.
July 15 – “We went through a hell of a lot, and I wanted to push a button to help get to the next chapter.” – John Pijanowski, who made a pilgrimage from Arkansas with his son Jack to visit the Buffalo grave of John’s father, Don, lost to Covid-19 – then to see a big-league game with John's son and brother while thinking of Don's love of baseball at Sahlen Field, where the Toronto Blue Jays brought regulation big-league ball to Buffalo spectators for the first time in 106 years.
July 30 – “What we know now is that he barely scraped the surface.” – Kevin Pride, great-nephew of Hank Williams, who was only 24 when he died in 1938 in a tuberculosis sanitarium; three years earlier, for the old Buffalo Bisons, he became the first Black player in the network of leagues that would evolve into the National Basketball Association.
Sept 11 – “You don’t really understand how precious something is until it’s not there. And then you look back on where you put your priorities and it’s like, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ ” – Mark Morabito, who lost his wife, Laura Lee DeFazio, 20 years ago in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Sept. 21 – “This dude was preparing us.” – Mohammed Shafie, a former McKinley High School student, on the skill and passion of longtime economics teacher Michael Vacanti, mourned throughout Buffalo after he took his own life – and whose family urges anyone struggling to call a 24-hour help line at 716-834-3131.
Oct. 11 – “I’m an average guy. I’m a veteran. I got cancer. I’m trying to beat it. I’m no hero.” – An emotional Denny Wittmeyer, who served in Vietnam, after he helped present a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., when Buffalo Niagara Honor Flight resumed and gently disagreed with his self-appraisal.
The Buffalo Niagara group representatives in white from left, Dennis Wittmeyer (Vietnam), Edward Piniarski (Korea) and Don Saville (WWII) laid a wreath with the help of Army guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery.
Oct. 23 – “If we’re going to spend $1 billion or more on a stadium, then I think we need to really think hard about how it can help the community long-term, how it affects our neighbors, how it might be done in a way that breaks down so many of the boundaries in this community.” – Dr. Ryan Miller, trying to spur civic conversation about potential sites after the Buffalo Bills endorsed the idea of a new stadium in Orchard Park.
Oct. 30 – “Here?” – An astounded Efrain Burgos, a native of Puerto Rico whose Niagara Street building holds a beautiful new mural of Roberto Clemente, after learning Clemente's first regulation professional hit on the American mainland was in Buffalo.
Nov. 6 – “She helped the hopeless feel empowered, she helped the lost have a sense of direction, she was an inspiration to people who didn’t believe in themselves.” – David Alexander on his mother, Cleo, a community legend who died shortly after celebrating her 100th birthday.
Nov. 27 – “You have to do something pretty heavy to have that kind of impact.” – Kristin Lemay, after an appreciative group of students from a BOCES program in the 1970s surprised her father, retired teacher Jerry Janan, with a party. Janan's philosophy was shaped by a childhood spent in orphanages and foster homes.
Dec. 7 – "This is a lot what it was like to serve on a submarine." – Pearl Harbor survivor Ed Stone, who enlisted in Buffalo, explaining to his daughter how he coped with pandemic isolation.
Dec. 24 – “You’re the reason our little boy is with us right now and is able to celebrate another holiday season with our sweet family.” – An anonymous letter to Alison Lyon from the parents of an infant whose condition improved after receiving Alison's marrow in a transplant.
