In a year’s end tradition I’ve followed for decades – one offered with gratitude for so many resonant voices and soulful readers, in Western New York – here’s my annual sampling of some quotes I won’t forget, from 12 months of columns. Jan. 4 : “My gosh.
Right out the door in 2024, and everything I want gets checked right off.” Marioly Corchado Ambrose, a clinical research nurse who joined two fellow runners during a New Year’s race at Old Fort Niagara in using CPR to help save John Leszak – a runner who went into full cardiac arrest. From 2022, here is the year in Western New York, in your own words.
Jan. 6 : “For me, the rivalry IS the Dolphins.” Buffalo native and South Florida Bills fan Bobby Deese, still aching from the Dolphins-over-Bills dominance of the 1970s , just before the resurgent Bills beat Miami to claim another division crown.
Jan. 19 : “It is the way we ought to live.” Monsignor Fran Weldgen, 87, retired Bills chaplain, after dozens of spectators essentially lifted him beyond impassable snow-and-ice-covered stairs at a Bills-Steelers playoff game at Highmark Stadium.
Rev. Fran Weldgen, who retired after many years as a Buffalo Bills team chaplain, found unexpected help during a hard situation at a Bills game. Feb.
3 : “Who would believe that such heritage still stands?” Beatrice Davis-Canty, longtime congregant of the DeLaine-Waring AME Church on Swan Street. The Buffalo church was founded by a pastor fleeing racist violence i.