A sunny sky prevailed Saturday for the Gnadenhutten Fireworks Festival Parade, which featured longtime Gnadenhutten residents Thelma Heck and Lowella Hicks Fouts as grand marshals.
?It?s an honor,? said Heck. ?I never expected to have it happen to me.?
Heck wanted to share the honor with her friends so she made a call to Fouts.
?I guess I was surprised,? said Fouts. ?Thelma called me, and here I am.?
Heck added that they also are sharing the honor ?in spirit? with another friend Cissy Fox, 99, who recently moved to Arkansas to be with her daughter.
Heck was born in Uhrichsville and moved to Gnadenhutten in 1927. She graduated in 1939 from Gnadenhutten High School. She married John V. Heck in 1941 and they lived in Oakmont, Pa., until moving back to the village in 1948. They had three children, Norma Jean, Barbara Ann and John V. Heck Jr. She has four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Thelma worked for B.K. Pfeiffer, Office Appliance and Gnadenhutten Bank. She has been a member of John Heckewelder Memorial Moravian Church for 65 years, where she has taught Sunday School, youth group, served as an elder, circle leader and candlemaker. She is also a member of the Gnadenhutten Senior Citizens.
Fouts was born in Tuscarawas County and grew up in Tippecanoe, where she graduated from high school. On Sept. 28, 1940, she married Robert Fouts, who passed away in 1996. They had four children, Virginia Alabbasi and Roberta Ann Mills, both of Columbus; Mary Ellen Bigler of New Philadelphia and Richard of Gnadenhutten.
She taught for 20 years for the Gnadenhutten and Indian Valley South schools. She was secretary for the Gnadenhutten United Methodist Church for more than nine years and has been a member for 58 years.
?This is a great place to live,? said Fouts, noting that she has lived in the village since 1965, and in the immediate area since 1954. Both women received a red carnation corsage.
2013 Fireworks Festival Queen Kara Barger was all smiles as she waited to get into a red convertible.
?I just attended my first queen?s luncheon, and I met a lot of queens from last year and learned what they?ve been doing,? Barger said. ?I?m getting really excited about what I?ll be able to do in the next year.?
The Indian Valley Marching Braves kept the procession in step. Cutest Baby contest winners Kelly Fillman and Ryker LeBlanc and Junior Parade Marshals Charlie Clark and Rylee Schelkun were dressed in red, white and blue.
Festival committee member Hope Johnson credits the addition of a queens? luncheon to the festival schedule for the success of this year?s parade.
?This is our biggest parade ever,? she said as she looked down Zimmerman Road, where entries were lining up. ?Many festival queens from all over attended the luncheon and are staying to participate in our parade.?
Johnson praised 2012 Queen Alysia Corpman for attending so many festivals throughout the year and attending those lunches.
?And thank goodness, look at this sunshine!? Johnson said.
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