While Butler County saw its fair share of tragedy in 2024, there were plenty of positive stories that are worth noting as the year comes to a close.

Amid a year that brought an assassination attempt to Butler County, we saw residents who still managed to make a difference in each others’ lives, either by carrying on in their longtime passions or by starting new initiatives in hopes to give back to the community.

Here are some of those people, highlighted in stories told in the Butler Eagle’s Community section throughout 2024.

Buffalo Township’s Helen Comperatore had never had her house decorated for Christmas, until this year when a Saxonburg decorator volunteered to light up the house with Christmas lights galore.

Helen’s husband, Corey Comperatore, died shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire at the July 13 campaign rally for former President Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show grounds.

Since his death, the community has rallied around his family.

Mason Martin, a teen football player for Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School who collapsed on field during a September 2023 game, came home from the hospital in June.

The news was celebrated across the region, as many have followed Mason’s story via his father Denny Martin’s social media updates.

After Hurricane Helene caused substantial damage in southeastern portions of the country, Butler County responded in huge ways to help those in need.

Drives for supplies popped up across the county with residents like Ryan Mong of Night Train Trucking, based in Harrisville, volunteering to deliver the supplies to those in need.

Reese Sequite, 15, of Butler, loves helping people and wants to become a doctor. She also loves swimming.

She found a way to combine those passions by starting an adaptive swimming program for children with special needs at the Butler YMCA.

Christina Moss, of Butler, left herself a birthday present almost seven years ago, which she retrieved from Carbondale, Ill., on Monday, April 8, one day before her 44th birthday.

She traveled to the city on Aug. 21, 2017, to photograph the total eclipse that happened then, when she learned the next total solar eclipse the U.S. would experience was a day before her 44th birthday.

On that initial trip, Moss buried a necklace she made using an Oregon sunstone and a moonstone, in commemoration of Oregon being the place where the shadow from 2017’s eclipse first made landfall.

She was one Butler County resident who traveled for the full-view of the April solar eclipse, but others in Butler County also enjoyed a partial view of the event.

The Can-Am Police-Fire Games were held for the first time in Butler County.

This multisport Olympic-style event gave competitors from fire departments, police departments and other first responders a chance to compete in games that use the skills that they need in their daily work.

Later this year, the Can-Am Police-Fire Games gave $95,000 to Special Olympics.

Dan and Cindy Musko, of Butler Township, could have taken a very fancy vacation or added on to their home, but instead, the humble and family-oriented couple decided to use their money to honor their grandchildren and enhance educational opportunities for Butler Senior High varsity basketball players.

The couple will provide the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation with $5,000 per year for 15 years for the Golden Tornado Boys and Girls Basketball Scholarship.

After the community asked for the event to be brought back, eight fire departments took part in the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company water battle in June, the first one in almost five years.

Armed with fire hoses, two teams compete in a tug-of-war-like competition. Shooting at a suspended barrel with water, the teams aim to get the barrel to their opponent’s side to win.

Even after already spending 56 years at North Side Cemetery, Merle Ealy isn’t planning on leaving. Actually, he is planning on staying forever.

In one of the newer sections of the almost 200-year-old cemetery is a grave stone for Ealy, which includes his birth date as well as the Steelers logo. About once a week, Ealy walks over his own grave, as he mows the lawn, blows away leaves and clears snow from the 30-plus-acre property.

“I love working here,” Ealy said. “It’s all outside, and I love working outside.”

She doesn’t ride a steed around or wear shining armor, but Eva M. Robinson, of Center Township, could very well be the only actual knight in Butler County.

Robinson was elevated March 15 from Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog to Knight 1st Class at the Danish embassy.

Robinson likens being knighted into the Order of the Dannebrog to the monarch knighting citizens of Great Britain. “Dannebrog” is the word for the Danish flag, which is the oldest in the world.

Chicora native Peyton Turner is flying high once again after winning the annual Air Race Classic for the second consecutive year.

The event is a cross-country race whose contestants are women of all ages, backgrounds and professions flying a variety of airplanes.

Last year, Turner, who graduated from Kent State University in May with a degree in aeronautics with a concentration in professional piloting, served as the pilot of a Cessna Skyhawk 172SP owned by Kent State.

The Jay Bee Circus, created by the late Butler artist Jimmy Bashline in the 20 years following his discharge from the military after World War II, was made available for public viewing at the Butler Eagle, 514 W. Wayne St., until a permanent home is found for the 10-by-14-foot display.

Some features of the miniature exhibit include costumed girls dancing at a side show, lions and tigers roaring at their trainers in one of three rings, a colorful caravan pulled by six camels, athletic trapeze artists flying through the air, a pumpkin carriage pulled by four ponies, an elephant squirting real water on its trainer, and a big top made by a former awning company on Mercer Street that used plans sent to Bashline by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.