LOOKING BACK: Tilda's top 10 for 2015

I just looked back through my 2015 blog summary and want to share the ten stories that got the most hits.
1. The top story by far was about how Stephanie Boyer found an envelope containing $2,500 in cash on the floor at the Unionville post office and immediately turned it in. Postmaster Bill traced the owner, an elderly veteran, and returned it to him. This heartwarming story, from Sept. 2, was shared far and wide on social media, and a lot of people told me it restored their faith in humanity.

Stephanie Boyer (in the blue coat) leads in the "Cheshire Beauties."

2.  In second place was the unexpected death in November of the beloved "Father Denny" (Dennis Van Thuyne), a gentle, genial former priest who ran a resale shop on State Street to raise money for head injury victims like himself.
3. Belin, the cat who served as Longwood Gardens' ambassador, died in September after a short illness. Readers are still sending me comments about how much they miss Belin, who lived in the Peirce-du Pont house.

Belin, the beloved Longwood Gardens cat, died in September.

4. In November, Doug Harris, owner of the State & Union shop, noticed that a customer had gotten a parking ticket and insisted on paying it. The customer wrote to me about his good deed. The story elicited much praise for Doug, who is a popular fixture in downtown Kennett.
5. My story announcing the grand marshals of Kennett Square's annual Memorial Day parade-- World War II veterans Michael B. Pratola, Jr., Fred Patrola, Sr., and Robert Hopkins, Sr.--drew lots of readers.
6. A story I'd forgotten about was courtesy of East Marlborough Township police chief Robert Clarke, who told me that on Sept. 30 he got a call that marijuana was growing in a cornfield on the west side of Newark Road, across from Archie's restaurant. "Clarkie" uprooted the pot plants, bundled them into garbage bags, took them back to the East Marlborough Township building and had township roadmaster Dennis Mellinger destroy them with a Kubota lawn mower.
7. This spring's musical at Unionville High School was "West Side Story," and the kids did an amazing job in every respect. Our reaction at the end of the evening was, "THAT was a high-school production?!"
8. Remember snow? The West Marlborough road crew does. In March, one of the tires on the township's loader blew out with the worst snowstorm of the season bearing down. That meant there was no way to load salt into the township's trucks. Road crew boss Hugh Lofting Jr. called all the farmers he could think of, but no one had the right tire. Finally he found out that the borough of Kennett Square had a spare they were willing to lend. Hugh asked me to publicly thank the borough: "They have no concept how much they saved my life."

Tilda will continue to use her BTML card.

9 and 10. The final two on my top ten list were, appropriately enough, the self-inflicted woes of the library board, which started in February with their surprise announcement (they hung a banner across State Street) that the library was no longer the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library but was now the Kennett Public Library. A firestorm ensued, which anyone with any knowledge of Kennett Square residents or history could have predicted. As a reporter it was a great controversy to cover, but as a library lover, donor, and longtime volunteer it was extremely distressing. Some readers have complained that I've been too tough on the board, that after all they're "just volunteers." Others say I've been too diplomatic. I'm just hoping a much-needed change in leadership and new members will give the board a fresh start.