“The most humble woman you will ever meet.”
“An amazing asset.”
“A heart of gold.”
Last month we asked you to vote on who was the Valley’s biggest newsmaker of 2015.
Nearly 900 of you did, and the quotes above are just a sampling of the praise for the poll’s winner — Mary Deming, the founder, president, and CEO of Seymour Pink, a nonprofit that has raised nearly $1 million to fight breast cancer.
Deming was a runaway winner, taking 435 of the poll’s 883 votes, or 49.26 percent.
The Valley Indy’s Eugene Driscoll and Ethan Fry discussed Deming’s win with Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller Jan. 4 during “Valley Navel Gazing,” this publication’s weekly podcast/radio show.
Click the play button below to listen to the show. The discussion of our poll begins around the 40:30 mark. We talked about Deming specifically around the 43:47 mark.
Miller said Deming was a “very deserving” winner “for all the great work she does for Seymour Pink along with their board and volunteers.”
“They raise a tremendous amount of money for people dealing with breast cancer … but more importantly, they’re there to help support the families as well,” the first selectman said.
He hoped readers’ recognition of Deming’s contributions will lead to more donations for the group.
On a personal level, Miller said Deming “is the most humble woman you will ever meet,” an assessment that complements the views of readers who chimed in on our poll.
“Mary Deming never stops,” Fran Kupcik wrote. “Her efforts help many people in the Valley dealing with breast cancer. And she does it all with a smile on her face. She is an amazing asset!”
“Mary Deming has a heart of Gold!” Mandy Norling Izokaitis wrote. “She has lost her mother to cancer like I have and she does what she does every day to help families in need!”
Obviously, Deming wasn’t the only newsmaker in the Valley last year.
Second place, with 139, or about 16 percent, of the poll’s votes went to Ansonia firefighters and DPW workers who worked to free a kitten from a storm drain in October.
Third place, with 121 votes, or about 14 percent, went to Jim Gildea, a member of the Derby Board of Education and vice president of the Commuter Rail Council.
Gildea was a guest on “Valley Navel Gazing” Sept. 28 to discuss progress on the Metro-North Railroad’s Waterbury branch, the train line that takes commuters (infrequently) from Waterbury to points south with local stops in Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia and Derby.
