It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. As we say goodbye to 2025, it’s time to announce my personal top five picks for The Valley Indy stories of the year.
From the incredible tale of a fellow Seymour High School Class of ’86 grad being reunited with her class ring after nearly 40 years, and our awesome readers opening up their hearts and wallets to keep Valley news around to my weekly trips back in time, a lot of news went down in the Valley over the last 365 days.
Here are my top five story picks for 2025:
5. SHS Class Of ’86 Grad Reunited With Long Lost Ring
Probably my favorite story I wrote this year was when my fellow Seymour High School Class of ’86 graduate, Laura (Schneider) Volk was reunited with the class ring she lost at our senior picnic, nearly 40 years ago. Laura placed the ring in her pocket when she was playing a game of egg toss, and when she went to put the ring back on, it was gone forever, at least that’s what she thought. It wasn’t until a perfect stranger with a passion for metal detecting came across the beloved SHS memento buried in the very field at Holiday Hill in Prospect where Laura and the rest of us were enjoying our final days as Wildcats. The man reached out to Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis, after noticing the SHS logo on the ring, and the rest, as they say, is history.
4. Annual Great Give
Once again, I am humbled by the generous outpouring of support from the Valley Indy readers during the annual Great Give give-a-thon. Our readers opened their hearts and wallets and donated more than $12,000 to keep our lights on and keep local journalism in the Valley alive and well.
Our editor Eugene Driscoll and fellow reporter Jasmine Wright kept the midnight oil burning for a 36-hour livestream with limited breaks. I’m a little camera-shy, believe it or not, and got into the act briefly for a voice-only cameo. But Eugene and Jasmine stood tough, interviewing dozens of Valley nonprofits, giving them a platform to share their good works and mission.
A big ‘thank you’ to all who donated to this year’s Great Give, especially to us at the Valley Indy, which helps keep me around!
3. This Week In History
I have to admit that while the weekly “Week in History” feature that I’m fortunate to write each week doesn’t really qualify as a story, per se, it’s one of my favorite things to do each week. Thanks to the well-kept digital archives courtesy of the Lower Naugatuck Valley History Archives, along with the well-maintained microfilm machine at the Seymour Public Library, l get to peruse the O.G. pages of The Evening Sentinel from the late 1800s to the early 1990s and discover what was happening in our beloved Valley back in the day. Who doesn’t get a kick outta reading about when Ronald McDonald visited the Ansonia Mall to teach Valley kids the benefits of good oral hygiene, or someone getting bagged for shoplifting at Caldor’s or how trolleys once were Valleyites’ only mode of transportation?
2. Seymour Zoners Reject Zone Change
There’s nothing like seeing a roomful of residents pack a Town Hall meeting room, with so many in attendance that it almost forced a venue change. That’s exactly what happened last summer when more than 100 Seymour residents came out in force, unwilling to lay out the welcome mat for a proposed zone change that could’ve paved the way for 88 townhouses in the Moss Avenue/Maple Street area.
The residents’ passion to preserve the peace and quiet of their neighborhood, and say no to high-density development, came through loud and clear. It was enough to convince the Seymour Planning and Zoning Commission to reject a developer’s proposal for the zone change. Democracy at its finest!
- Jo-Jo, The Australian Silky Terrier, Narrowly Escapes Icy Death In Ansonia
This was a feel-good story about a good Samaritan racing into action to help a tiny dog who escaped from the front yard of her Ansonia home and almost plunged into the icy waters of the Naugatuck River on a cold February day. Jo-Jo, a partially blind and deaf dog, managed to cross a busy road and run down a snowy embankment, just 10 feet from the icy river. A bystander who was having her car serviced at a nearby auto shop happened to see Jo-Jo, and without hesitation, raced to Jo-Jo’s aid. The tiny terrier was given a new ‘leash’ on life, thanks to the kindness and bravery of a guardian angel.