Morris tales of courage, a singing dad and a Nobel prize winner top 2015

There are stories that uplift and inspire and make a person proud to be part of a community, and Morris County in 2015 was abound with tales of courage, perseverance and stories that simply made one laugh and want to know more.

The following are some of the many stories this year that garnered delight, admiration and compassion from the community.

On Aug. 18, six young people risked their lives to rescue a 90-year-old retired Russian Orthodox priest from his burning apartment on Highland Avenue in Netcong and roused a second tenant from her first-floor unit.

“They did not have to do that but they’re good kids, they really are. It shows what good hearts they have,” Joanne Gun said of the young people who escorted her disoriented father-in-law, Ilya Gun, out of his home, and roused a second senior citizen from her apartment in the ground-level part of the home.

Dallas Crosby, 21, was at a neighboring house when he saw smoke next door and ran through the front door. Karlee Frazier, meanwhile, ran around the back of the house and up a flight of steps to a deck outside what she knew to be Father Ilya’s apartment in the home. She entered the apartment, she said, and saw that the priest had fallen and was disoriented, his face bloody and covered with soot.

Dallas Crosby and his cousin, Kyle Wright, 19, of West Milford, scrambled to the back of the house and carried the 130-pound Father Ilya down the steps and to the street. Other neighbors Daemien Hayes, 18, and Karlee Frazier’s brother, Dylon Frazier, 17, pounded on the door to the apartment below Father Ilya's, and roused tenant Fran Gillette from her apartment. Friend Alvaro Deoliveira kept Father Ilya calm under paramedics arrived.

The Delbarton School's soccer team had the distinction of being the first team to win four straight NJSIAA Non-Public A titles. The Green Wave also won its third consecutive Morris County Tournament crown and won the NJAC-United, its 12th straight conference award.

"There is an expectation for excellence," said Delbarton senior defender Jack Kielty. "Every day we have to strive for perfection, so you can achieve excellence. You can never settle for mediocrity."

It is impossible not to grin and admire the imagination and love that Charles Flartey, 36, of Hopatcong brings to his relationship with his one-year-old son, Tommy. Flartey this year posted half a dozen videos on YouTube of him feeding his son while singing kid-friendly, food-based remixed tunes from R. Kelly, Wu-Tang Clan and Gwen Stefani.

“I sing to him all day long anyway. One day I thought ‘this is funny enough to turn a camera on,’” Flartey said. “Then I put it on Facebook, and enough people liked it for me to keep doing it.” Viewers more than liked it -- the videos went viral, attracting tens of thousands of viewers in a few months.

Flartey said he made his first video, “Jell-O,” a cover of Lionel Richie’s “Hello,” a few months ago.

On Oct. 10, Boonton Marine Kyle Chappell, who had been severely injured in a motorcycle crash in April, showed his perseverance by appearing at the Run for Kyle 5K fundraiser for himself. Chappell wanted to participate in his wheelchair but took his physician's advice and watched his friends.

Chappell, 26, was injured when he was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle to work in Denville. He spent months in intensive care after suffering numerous serious injuries including an internal decapitation – a typically fatal injury where the skull separates from the spinal column – a dissected aorta, two collapsed lungs, a lacerated liver, kidney, spleen, a fractured femur, and extensive injuries to his legs which led to an amputation of his left leg below the knee.

Chappell was able to leave Morristown Medical Center in late May, at which point he entered the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange for physical therapy. Though suffering some setbacks, he has shown his courage through steady improvements.

​A Mendham woman who changed the lives of hundreds of children by opening an orphanage in Nepal is now nationally recognized after being named CNN’s 2015 Hero of the Year in November.

“This is huge, kind of surreal still, and big for Nepal. They’re going wild over it,” said Maggie Doyne, 28. “I’m so happy. This is so cool, a great win for Nepal, my team and all the kids who really deserve it.”

Doyne was named a finalist for the honor in October, when she was named a Top 10 Hero and received $10,000 for BlinkNow, a nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged children and women in Nepal, of which she is founder and chief executive officer.

After a month of voting, Doyne won top honors Tuesday and will receive an additional $100,000 to benefit BlinkNow.

In July, Family Promise of Morris County, which has partnered since 1988 with churches, public and private agencies to assist the homeless with shelter, social and medical services, opened a drop-in center in the basement of the First Baptist Church of Morristown for the homeless. The center, which is open Monday through Friday, is called Our Promise.

"We want anyone who comes here to feel safe," said Joann Bjornson, executive director of Family Promise of Morris County. Visitors to the center can have their mail delivered there, watch television or read and socialize and avail themselves of toiletries and social service referrals.

Whippany Park High School's Nickolette Dunbar added to her illustrious sports resume by remaining undefeated in all shot put competitions. She won NJISAA titles indoors and outdoors. In the spring, she broke the meet, Morris County and New Jersey record with a final throw of 51 feet, 2 and three-quarters inches.

A junior at Whippany Park, Dunbar also won the Penn Relays Championship of America and placed sixth in the World Youth Games shot put over the summer, her first time representing the United States. Dunbar has signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her track and field and academic careers at Louisiana State University.

On Oct. 26, a 230-pound black bear enthralled observers for hours as it lounged in a tree on the Morristown Green. As curious onlookers snapped photographs and tweeted images of the bear, police and officials from the state Division of Fish & Wildlife set up netting around the base of the tree in case the bear fell and prepared a tranquilizer gun.

The tranquilizing shot prompted the bear to clamber higher in the tree where it quickly became stuck on a limb and passed out. A Fish & Wildlife official and a Morristown firefighter used a fire ladder to reach the bear and plucked it from its perch into the ladder bucket.

In October, a Drew University professor won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a way to combat river blindness. William C. Campbell, 85, a research fellow emeritus at Drew University currently living in the Boston suburb of North Andover, Mass., won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with China’s Youyou Tu and Japan’s Satoshi Omura.

The three scientists were praised for their work with tropical and parasitic disease medications.

Campell and Omura discovered the drug avermectin could help combat river blindness and lymphatic filariasis caused by parasitic worms in millions of people in Africa and Asia.

The Irish-born Campbell made his discovery while working at the pharmaceutical company Merck in 1975. Originally an animal health product, in 1978 he suggested the use of the drug to fight river blindness, a parasitic infection spread by black flies that can cause intense itching, skin discoloration, rashes, and eye disease that often leads to permanent blindness. Campbell’s work led Merck to develop Mectizan, which was then used to treat the disease.

The Chatham High School girls swim team won its fifth straight NJSIAA championship, and seventh straight Morris County title in 2014-15. The Cougars state streak is tied for second overall, and matches the longest stretch of consecutive public school championships.

At the county meet, Chatham finished first in seven of 11 events. Chatham is undefeated since early 2010, graduating its second class without a loss.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.