The St. Patrick's Parade Committee member is a professor at Westfield State College.
Gerald D. Healy, seen during the 2002 Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade as parade president, will serve at Grand Marshal of the 2011 Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade.HOLYOKE - This year’s Grand Marshal who will lead the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade is a college professor, the child of two Irish immigrants, a former U.S. Marine and (gasp) lives in West Springfield.
The Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade Committee Wednesday announced longtime member Gerald D. Healy, chairman and a professor of economics and management at Westfield State College, will serve as marshal.
“He is a shamrock person; a well-respected educator, a loving husband, devoted father,” said Russell J. McNiff Sr., chairman of the grand marshal committee.
He will replace longtime City Council President Joseph M. McGiverin, who was served as Grand Marshal for the 2010 parade last March.
The Grand Marshal, who is the first to march in the parade, must be of Irish ancestry and a resident of Holyoke. What is not as well-known is there is also a clause that says a non-resident can be selected if he or she is a member of the St. Patrick’s Parade Committee, he said.
“We have had others who are not from Holyoke. We have had seven in our 60 years of the parade,” he said.
That number must be good for Healy; he is also the seventh educator who has lead the parade, he said.
Healy may live in West Springfield, but he has ties to Holyoke. He graduated from Holyoke High School and Holyoke Community College before going on to study at Westfield State and American International College, McNiff said.
His parents are both from Ireland, and Healy was born in England, moving to the United States when he was a child.
Healy has held a number of leadership roles in the parade and one of his key contributions was to develop a tartan for the Holyoke parade, McNiff said.