The Tamaqua Memorial Day Parade begins at 10 a.m. Monday. Jon M. Zizelmann of West Penn Township will serve as Grand Marshal, with Tracy Fisher as the featured speaker for the Memorial Day service.

The parade will form on East Broad Street near the former CVS and Maff Motors. Participants should arrive by 9:30 a.m., and check in with parade coordinators to find their designated location in the lineup.

The procession will travel along Broad Street and end near Odd Fellow’s Cemetery on East Broad Street.

The 155th Service of Remembrance begins at 11 a.m. from the Soldiers’ Circle in the cemetery with the color guard of the Tamaqua American Legion C.H. Berry Post No. 173 rendering honors.

Participants include Deacon Edward Girard, Poppy Queen Layluh Creitz, Tamaqua American Legion, Canton Allentown #39 Patriarch’s Militant, and the Tamaqua Area High School Raider Marching Band.

The parade will be held rain or shine. In the event of rain, the service will be held at the Tamaqua Community Arts Center, 125 Pine St., Tamaqua.

Updates will be made on the Tamaqua Remembers Facebook page.

Military background

Fisher’s parents were both Army officers. Her father retired from the Army in 1995 after a 29-year career in the Chemical Corps and the Dental Corps.

As a child, Fisher lived in Maryland, Alabama, Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, West Germany and Texas, attending seven different schools in 12 years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University, a Ph.D. in American History at George Mason University, and her law degree from the University of Minnesota.

While attending George Mason University, her dissertation examined the correspondence between the War Department and the American families of those who died while serving overseas in World War I. The book was published by Routledge as “Burying America’s World War Dead.”

She wrote that American families pushed back when the government and the War Department attempted to decide how and where the war dead should be buried. The efforts of the World War I families led to many of the traditions that the United States still follows with respect to Americans who die in the service of their country.

She is an attorney for the U.S. government and lives in Arlington, Virginia, within walking distance of Arlington National Cemetery.

Creitz is the daughter of Amy Creitz of Fogelsville and Val Creitz, also of Fogelsville. She is the granddaughter of Lynne and Richard Creitz, and has a brother, Grayson Creitz. She has been a member of the Junior Auxiliary of the Tamaqua Legion for six years.

Girard serves as an ordained deacon for the parishes of St. John XXIII, Tamaqua and St. Richard, Barnesville. He is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer 2. His tours of duty in the Coast Guard include several high endurance cutters, the Vessel Traffic Service, and several search and rescue centers.

After retiring from the Coast Guard, Girard served as a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ranger at Locust Lake and Tuscarora State Parks, an adjunct professor at Lackawanna College and director of religious education at Sacred Heart Church in Palmerton. He and his wife Anne live in Coaldale.

Grand Marshal

A Tamaqua native and a 1960 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School, Zizelmann attended Wyoming Seminary. He is a 1965 graduate of Ursinus College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology, and a 1966 graduate of the American Academy of Funeral Service.

He completed his basic training and advanced training at Fort Lewis, Washington in 1967 and graduated from Pennsylvania’s first NCO school in 1969.

In 1970, he graduated from the first United States Army Chemical, Biological, and Radiation School at Fort Eustis, Virginia, where he was awarded a letter of commendation as the Honor Enlisted Graduate having held the highest overall academic average among the enlisted personnel of the class.

From 1966 to 1974, Zizelmann served in the Pennsylvania National Guard, Hometown, earning the rank of Staff Sergeant. He was on duty following both the Agnes Flood in 1972 and the independent truckers strike in 1974. He also served as the Training NCO at the Hometown unit.

In 1967, he joined his father in managing the Zizelmann Funeral Home and serves as the corporate secretary of the Zizelmann-Gulla Funeral Home and Cremation Services LLC.

His community service includes past co-chairman of the Southern Schuylkill United Way campaign; life member, former captain, and former ambulance driver at the American Hose Co. #1; life member of the C.H. Berry American Legion Post #173; member of Amvets Post #1, McAdoo; former member of Tamaqua Elks Lodge, Tamaqua Rotary Club, Tamaqua Crime Watch, and Tamaqua Firemen’s Relief; a founding member of the Tamaqua Drug Busters; a former member of the Tamaqua Industrial Development Enterprises where he broke ground at the Air Products site in Hometown; board member and a past treasurer for the former Lutheran Welfare Services in Northeast Pennsylvania; a member of the Mauch Chunk Trust Company’s Community Advisory Board since 2011 where he is currently serving as chairman; director and past president of the Tamaqua Public Library where he has served since 1986; and member of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Tamaqua where he is a former council member and council past president. Zizelmann was also the master of ceremonies for Tamaqua’s Memorial Day Service of Remembrance for 26 years from 1988 to 2013.

He is married to Sylvia (Clemson) Zizelmann, and has three children, Andrea Baxter, Johanna Ulicny and Eric Zizelmann; eight grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three step-great-grandchildren.

Any organizations interested in participating in the parade should contact Arthur Connely at 570-778-7710.

Food and refreshments will be available at the Tamaqua Legion, 206 W. Broad St., following the service.