Montgomery Year in Review: Stories that Touched Our Heart in 2012

We're looking back at the year that was and rounding up our picks for our favorite stories — or just the stories that resonated most with us.

In no particular order, here are the stories that tugged at our heartstrings in 2012.

• Life of Kylie Series Take a look back at our heartwarming series on the life of young Kylie Arnold.

• Schools Raise Thousands for Family of Kylie Arnold A series of fundraisers, including a Culver's night, brought in just shy of $3,000 to help the family of Kylie Arnold, a 4-year-old Montgomery girl who lost her fight with brain cancer late last month.

• Local Army Veteran Given a Hero's Welcome After Returning Home from Afghanistan US Army SPC Rosalio "Charlie" Aguirre was welcomed home Sunday afternoon at his Aurora home.

• Oswego Woman Thanks Montgomery Man Who Helped After Car Accident When Dianne Ritter was in a car accident earlier this month, Brock Torrance came to her aid. When she wanted to thank him she turned to Facebook.

• Paralympian Surprised with Homecoming by Friends and Family Joe Berenyi won three medals in the 2012 London Paralympics.

• Mom: Son Surviving Fall from High Dive a Miracle Mom Nicole Davis says her 9-year-old son is taking accident at grandparents' house like a champ.

• Montgomery Kids Squeezing More Out of Summer Lemonade Stand An $18 Foxmoor windfall has turned into a full-scale garage sale fundraiser Saturday for the Down Syndrome Buddy Walk.

• Boulder Hill Man Finds Siblings After 60 Years After decades of searching, Rick Stadel will finally have all four of his siblings - one of whom he still has not met - in the same room for the first time this weekend.

•  Ken Mindar of Montgomery runs Photo ER, and brings damaged photographs back to life for a living. Now he's taken on his biggest challenge - restoring thousands of photos from a Massachusetts fire.