Post by admin on Jun 30, 2009 16:10:45 GMT -5
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2009/0624/front_page/039.html
Parade is in good hands with McCobb
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — It has been said that Freehold Borough resident Alice McCobb, essentially, is the town's Memorial Day parade.
In recognition of McCobb's years of effort and dedication to the very special annual event, she was recently presented with the John G. McGackin Freehold Renaissance Award.
The award is named for the late mayor of Freehold who helped to get the borough's renaissance off the ground in the early 1980s.
McCobb was one of two residents who were honored with a McGackin award at a recent Borough Council meeting. Sidney Blacknall was also honored by municipal officials (see page 44).
Mayor Michael Wilson said he was happy to see McCobb receive the honor. He said it was "well deserved" and said Freehold is "very lucky" to have had Mc Cobb heading up the parade for 20 years.
"She works on it all year round," the mayor said. "We are very lucky to have a person who volunteers so much of her time and is so dedicated to the parade."
McCobb, who has chaired the parade since 1983, said she was thrilled and stunned when told she had been selected to receive the McGackin award.
The plaque already has a home — next to two proclamations she received for the parade: one from Gov. Christie Whitman on the 125th anniversary of the parade in 1999, and one from the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
McCobb said she started working on the parade when she joined the Freehold Borough Recreation Committee in the early 1980s.
In 1983 the parade committee was formed and McCobb was named its chairwoman. She has been running the show ever since.
Referring to the event as "my" parade, McCobb said the very special Memorial Day celebration has only been canceled twice.
"They called the parade once in the 1960s because of the racial unrest at that time," McCobb said. "The other time, I called it about 10 years ago because of dangerous lighting. We don't cancel the parade because of a quote I got from veterans years ago. They told me, 'We fought in rain and we'll march in rain.' No way I'm going to argue with that."
McCobb has been known to say, "It doesn't rain on my parade."
"Ask any of the cops," she said, remembering how Freehold Borough police Capt. Michael DiAiso and Lt. Phillip Ecks would wait on the steps of the Monmouth County Hall of Records on Main Street for her to make a decision about the parade if the weather looked threatening.
"Are you going to call the parade?" she said DiAiso would ask her at about 9:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the event.
"It doesn't rain on my parade," she would tell him.
For the most part, according to McCobb, she has been right.
"Many times it has been raining and then, magically, it stops at 10 a.m.," she said with some amusement. "My window is between 10 a.m. and noon. It can rain after that."
The Memorial Day parade is not just an annual event for McCobb and her family. It is a part of their daily life for at least 11 months out of the year.
McCobb may be the head honcho, but she freely admits that she has a lot of help from all of her volunteers, which include members of her family and longtime friends. In addition to her 10 committee members, McCobb's husband, Patrick, their daughter, Amanda, McCobb's father, Bill Hakim, her sister, Jean Marie Story, and Story's daughter, Jaime Story, have all been instrumental in helping the parade get off the ground each year.
When she is not spending time planning the following year's parade, McCobb works as a cashier at Foodtown in Manalapan.
Parade is in good hands with McCobb
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — It has been said that Freehold Borough resident Alice McCobb, essentially, is the town's Memorial Day parade.
In recognition of McCobb's years of effort and dedication to the very special annual event, she was recently presented with the John G. McGackin Freehold Renaissance Award.
The award is named for the late mayor of Freehold who helped to get the borough's renaissance off the ground in the early 1980s.
McCobb was one of two residents who were honored with a McGackin award at a recent Borough Council meeting. Sidney Blacknall was also honored by municipal officials (see page 44).
Mayor Michael Wilson said he was happy to see McCobb receive the honor. He said it was "well deserved" and said Freehold is "very lucky" to have had Mc Cobb heading up the parade for 20 years.
"She works on it all year round," the mayor said. "We are very lucky to have a person who volunteers so much of her time and is so dedicated to the parade."
McCobb, who has chaired the parade since 1983, said she was thrilled and stunned when told she had been selected to receive the McGackin award.
The plaque already has a home — next to two proclamations she received for the parade: one from Gov. Christie Whitman on the 125th anniversary of the parade in 1999, and one from the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders.
McCobb said she started working on the parade when she joined the Freehold Borough Recreation Committee in the early 1980s.
In 1983 the parade committee was formed and McCobb was named its chairwoman. She has been running the show ever since.
Referring to the event as "my" parade, McCobb said the very special Memorial Day celebration has only been canceled twice.
"They called the parade once in the 1960s because of the racial unrest at that time," McCobb said. "The other time, I called it about 10 years ago because of dangerous lighting. We don't cancel the parade because of a quote I got from veterans years ago. They told me, 'We fought in rain and we'll march in rain.' No way I'm going to argue with that."
McCobb has been known to say, "It doesn't rain on my parade."
"Ask any of the cops," she said, remembering how Freehold Borough police Capt. Michael DiAiso and Lt. Phillip Ecks would wait on the steps of the Monmouth County Hall of Records on Main Street for her to make a decision about the parade if the weather looked threatening.
"Are you going to call the parade?" she said DiAiso would ask her at about 9:50 a.m., 10 minutes before the scheduled start of the event.
"It doesn't rain on my parade," she would tell him.
For the most part, according to McCobb, she has been right.
"Many times it has been raining and then, magically, it stops at 10 a.m.," she said with some amusement. "My window is between 10 a.m. and noon. It can rain after that."
The Memorial Day parade is not just an annual event for McCobb and her family. It is a part of their daily life for at least 11 months out of the year.
McCobb may be the head honcho, but she freely admits that she has a lot of help from all of her volunteers, which include members of her family and longtime friends. In addition to her 10 committee members, McCobb's husband, Patrick, their daughter, Amanda, McCobb's father, Bill Hakim, her sister, Jean Marie Story, and Story's daughter, Jaime Story, have all been instrumental in helping the parade get off the ground each year.
When she is not spending time planning the following year's parade, McCobb works as a cashier at Foodtown in Manalapan.