Memorial Day Parade
Peter Galgano, Secretary Charles Colaresi, Chairman (860) 604-7258 (860) 224-9494
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE – Monday - MAY 26, 2025
Parade Route and Ceremony at the Berlin Veterans Memorial Park
(Berlin, CT) – This year’s Memorial Day Parade will start at 9:00 AM at St. Paul’s Church on Peck Street, Kensington. The parade route will go down Farmington Avenue turning left onto Massirio Drive, passing the Berlin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10732, then a left onto Veterans Way and end at the Berlin Veterans Memorial Park, where a Memorial Day Ceremony will take place between 9:45 and 10:05 AM.
There will be an Invocation by Clifford P. Cote, US Air Force Veteran and Father Joe, from St. Paul’s will do the Benediction. The Berlin High School Madrigal Singers, directed by Tyler Boyle, will sing the “National Anthem” and “America the Beautiful”. The Berlin High School Saxophone Quartet will play an "Armed Forces Medley", directed by Christopher Dresko. There will be a rifle volley by the joint members of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 10732, and members of the American Legion Post 68, followed by Taps played by Berlin HS Trumpeters Evan Paone and Maggie Yantz.
This year’s guest speaker is Patricia Parry, President of Connecticut Gold Star Mothers.
Pat as she is known, is a Stamford native. Born and raised in Stamford, she graduated Stamford Catholic High School, St. Vincent’s Hospital School of Nursing in NYC and Sacred Heart University. She worked at Boston City Hospital before moving back to Stamford to raise a family where she worked at St. Joseph’s Hospital – then Medical Center – Stamford Dialysis, and finally in the world of medical research/clinical trials affiliated with Stamford Hospital. Pat worked as a nurse for 46 years.
Pat is married to Dr. Michael Parry and the mother of a blended family of 5. The youngest of Pat’s 3 children was Navy SEAL Brian R Bill, who graduated from Trinity Catholic High School – the former Stamford Catholic High School and then from Norwich University in VT with a degree in electrical engineering before enlisting in the Navy in his quest to become a Navy SEAL. Tragically, Brian was killed on 06 AUG 2011, when the helicopter he was riding in, call sign Extortion 17, was shot down in Afghanistan. It remains the single largest loss of life in a single event for the SEAL community.
Since Brian’s death, Pat has worked to honor and remember him. In 2012, the 1st Navy SEAL Brian R Bill memorial golf tournament was held to fund a scholarship in his name at Norwich University. 2025 will be the 14th year.
Pat began working with concerned citizens in Stamford to renovate Stamford Veterans Memorial Park – now codified as Stamford Veterans Park Partnership. There are numerous other groups and events that she participates in to honor his memory including parade planning for Memorial and Veterans Day in Stamford, LZ 4 Vets, Stamford Veterans Resource Center and CT Gold Star Mothers – a department of American Gold Star Mothers. Pat is currently the President of CT Gold Star Mothers. Pat is also a part of a Military Moms group that packs and sends Christmas Care packages overseas for Christmas. Last year, they sent 140 boxes.
In the event of rain, the Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 10732, 152 Massirio Dr., Berlin, CT 06037 at 9:00 AM.
