St. Pat’s Parade Grand Marshals Are Chosen

submitted by Kevin O’Malley
Three 1952 St. Mary’s Academy graduates will be the Grand Marshals of the Hoosick Falls St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year. Patricia Carknard, Nancy McCabe and Margaret O’Malley, all raised in the village by Irish mothers, will all celebrate their 75th birthdays this year. They attended St. Mary’s Academy, and in the seventh grade their Irish teacher, Sister St. Gerard, made sure they all learned how to do the Irish Jig before they left her class.

Every year on St. Patrick’s Day, there was an Irish show at the theater on Church St. and many of the children, including Pat, Nancy and Margaret participated. All three women were friends throughout their school years and celebrated together, along with their classmates, at their 50th class reunion in 2002. Pat, Nancy and Margaret all raised large Irish broods – Patricia, eight children on Clay Hill, Nancy, five children on Elm Street, and Margaret, six children on Ball Street, in Hoosick Falls.
Patricia Mahar Carknard was born in Stillwater, NY, on November 23, 1934, to John and Mary (Hyland) Mahar. Pat’s grandparents, Patrick and Kate Hyland, had descendants who emigrated from Ireland. Her family moved to Hoosick Falls from Stillwater in the 1930s. She attended St. Mary’s Academy in Hoosick Falls, graduating in 1952. She married Ed Carknard on May 14, 1955, in the Immaculate Conception Church. Pat and Ed had 8 children, and she has been a devoted mom to her children Eddie, Sissy, Larry, Stephen, Mary, Patsy, Maureen and Catherine and is the proud grandmother to 15 grandchildren. She is also the proud grandma of Michael Hackett, who passed away October 2005.
As her children grew, she enrolled in the Putnam Memorial Hospital nursing program for LPN studies, completing the program in 1977. She worked as an LPN in Bennington until her retirement in 1996. Pat is a member of the Immaculate Conception Parish, belongs to the Derby Club, the Red Hat Society, the Hoosick Falls Senior Center, the American Legion Auxiliary and the St. Stanislaw Society. She has recently resumed volunteering at SVMC as a Gray Lady and at St. Mary’s Academy in the library. She also participates in and assists with the organization and success of the EC Fund for Youth Sports in Hoosick Falls. This fund is in memory of Eddie Carknard, her eldest son. She has been an advocate of youth sports and stays involved in activities to promote youth participation in sports.
The daughter of Florence and Edwin Webster, Nancy Ann McCabe was born on March 7, 1935. She was raised in Hoosick Falls and graduated from St. Mary’s Academy in 1952. She married the late Loren McCabe on November 27, 1954, and they had five children together – Donald, Laurie, Susan, David and Douglas. Nancy has eight grandchildren.
Nancy’s grandfather, Patrick O’Callahan, came to the United States from County Cork in the late 1800s. Nancy’s mother, Florence, was a former Grand Marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 1985.
Nancy works part time for Hemmings Motor News in Bennington, VT. She is a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and is currently the Secretary. She is also the Secretary of the Maple Grove Cemetery Association. She is an active lifetime member of the VFW Auxiliary, a member of the local Derby Club, the Red Hat Society, the St. Stanislaw Society, the Hoosick Falls Senior Center and a door-to-door volunteer for the National Cancer Coalition. She is a former member of the Hoosick Falls Fire Department with the J.D. Howe Hose Company and was a 30-year member of the United States Bowling Congress at the Barbecue Lanes.
Margaret Hughes O’Malley was born on April 8, 1935, to Francis and Catherine Houlton Hughes. Both her maternal and paternal grandparents came from Ireland to the United States during the potato famine. Along with her sister, Dorothy, Margaret grew up in the second ward of the Village on Third Street and attended St. Mary’s Academy, graduating in 1952.
She married her high school sweetheart, Edward O’Malley, on July 21, 1956. She and her husband raised and doted on her six children – Marie, Kevin, Paul, Eileen, Margaret and Michelle, on Ball Street in the Village. After all the children were in school, she worked for 23 years at the Hoosick Falls Central School Cafeteria, retiring in 2003.
Margaret is a lifelong member of the Immaculate Conception Church where she serves as a Eucharistic Minister. She also brings communion to the shut-ins at the Danforth Adult Home and the Hoosick Falls Health Center. She is a Past Regent, Secretary and current member of the Catholic Daughters of America. Margaret also volunteers as a Gray Lady at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. She enjoys spending time with her family and her eight grandchildren.
The Hoosick Falls St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Irish Festival will be held on March 13 beginning at 1 pm.