He’s been an active firefighter in his community for the past 44 years.

During that time, Kevin Lilly has touched the lives of countless people in his hometown of Franklin Township.

On Easter Sunday, the tables were turned and it was Lilly who received an outpouring of support in celebration of his 60th birthday.

While plans for a big surprise party were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, that didn’t stop family and friends from organizing a small birthday party parade for Lilly.

Instead, Lilly’s special day was marked by a seven-minute parade that had a combination of about 50 cars, trucks and tractors, among them the Franklin, Lehighton, Mahoning Valley, East Penn and Parryville fire companies.

Parade attendees gathered in their vehicles at St. Matthew’s Church on Church Street around 1:40 p.m.

The participants then drove past Lilly’s home on Penn Street at 2 p.m., as the parade was led by Lilly’s two grandchildren, Jason (2 years old) and Tyler, (1 year old) Rivera.

“It was a surprise, absolutely,” Lilly said. “I was blown away, overwhelmed; it just was unbelievable.”

Lilly said he went to work in the morning, and when he came back, his entire driveway was written with chalk, and a big poster on his garage that read Happy 60th Birthday.

All the credit, Lilly said, goes to his wife, Donna, and two daughters Tanya (along with her husband Josh) and Tiffany (along with her husband Chris).

“Just beyond words; my family is so special to me,” he said. “We really have a close family.”

Lilly said the day began with church on a Zoom meeting, followed by communion and celebrating the resurrection of God.

“It started off great, and then it just escalated for me with just seeing the awesome friends and my family did this,” he said. “It was just an awesome day.”

Lilly said it was gratifying to see so many people show their support.

“All the fire companies that came, to me it really took my heart because all the fire companies that take away from their Easter celebration with their families, just to come out and spend a few minutes and drive by and show their friendship; it was just beyond words for me,” he said. “It just shows what’s really important in the world: to have friends and to have the relationship with God, it means a lot with how the world is right now with this pandemic and all the different politics stuff that’s going on.

It just shows all that doesn’t matter. It just matters how you live your life, and how important family is.”

Lilly said he was surprised with how the day unfolded.

“I had no clue whatsoever, and when I walked outside I saw our firetruck come up, holy cow,” he said. “It was everyone from the fire companies all around the area, our church family, we had friends from Lake Harmony and Tamaqua, and even though I couldn’t talk to them, I could waive.

All my neighbors came out, they all knew it. It was a wonderful day.”

Lilly said he will never forget how special of a day it was.

“It was beyond words for me; it was so special,” he said. “It was something that I will never ever forget, ever.”