The 2024 Tamaqua Memorial Day Parade will be held at 10 a.m. May 27 on Broad Street in Tamaqua.

Jack Kulp of Tamaqua has been named Grand Marshal of the parade, while Staff Sgt. Matthew Holmberg will be the featured speaker for the 156th Tamaqua Memorial Day of Service Remembrance service.

The service will be held at 11 a.m. from the Soldiers’ Circle in Odd Fellow’s Cemetery with the color guard of the Tamaqua American Legion C.H. Berry Post #173 rendering honors.

The parade will form in the last block of East Broad Street in the area of NAPA Auto Parts. Participants should be on the site no later than 9:30 a.m. and should check in with one of the parade coordinators to find their designated location in the lineup.

Any organizations interested in participating in the parade can do so by contacting Arthur Connely at 570-778-7710 or Dave Meredith at 570-668-3356. The parade will be held rain or shine and will travel onto West Broad Street.

In the event of rain, the service will be held at the Tamaqua Arts Center, 125 Pine St. If the service is relocated to the center, the announcement will be made as early as possible on the Tamaqua Remembers Facebook page.

The service will honor the country’s war dead with printed recognition of the 94 Tamaqua natives who gave their lives while on active military duty. The brief service also includes the reading of the names of the Tamaqua area veterans who passed away since last year’s Memorial Day observance.

Participants

Participants will include The Rev. Debra Forney, Kulp, Poppy Queen Isabelle Swartz, Tamaqua American Legion C.H. Berry Post #173, Canton Allentown #39 Patriarch’s Militant and members of the Tamaqua Area High School Raider Marching Band.

Holmberg is a native of Tamaqua and is a son of Jean Romig Holmberg and the late Elmer Holmberg. He graduated from Tamaqua Area High School in 1992 and enlisted as a musician in the United States Marine Corps. During his 4-year enlistment, he played euphonium in the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band, El Toro, California, and the III Marine Expeditionary Force Band in Okinawa, Japan.

In 1998, Holmberg enlisted as a musician with the 553rd Air Force Band, Air National Guard Band of the Northeast in Fort Indiantown Gap. After 18 years in the Air National Guard, he retired from the military with 23 years of total service.

During his tenure, he played for American presidents, ambassadors, gubernatorial elections, baseball World Series, and American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries and memorials overseas.

Holmberg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Music degree from Messiah College. He is pursuing a Doctor of Music Education from Liberty University.

He has been a music educator in New Jersey for 22 years where he has taught everything from elementary music to high school band in three school districts. He is currently the middle school band director at Lacey Township Middle School in Lanoka Harbor and lives in Forked River, New Jersey.

In addition to teaching, Holmberg belongs to The Salvation Army Ocean County Citadel Church Corps, where he is the bandmaster of a 12-piece brass band.

His family includes his fiancee, Michele Sierchio of New Jersey; his mother, Jean and his brother, Joshua, both of West Penn Township; and his nephew, Ryder.

Kulp graduated from Williamsport Area High School in 1967 and attended Pennsylvania State University for civil engineering. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1969 and is a Vietnam War era veteran of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division (colloquially known as “The Big Red One”), where he served as a forward observer for a battalion of 155 millimeter self-propelled, tracked howitzers.

Kulp was discharged from the Army in 1972 and worked for several regional northeast Pennsylvania civil engineering firms for more than 50 years.

He has lived in Tamaqua for 24 years and is locally known for his talents as a professional musician. Along with Sterling Koch of Pottsville, Kulp is a member of the “Crossroads Duo” with whom he was honored to perform at the 2017 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. He continues to perform and frequently can be found providing music for patrons of the Tamaqua Station Restaurant.

Kulp is active in Tamaqua’s Borough Authority, Water Authority and CRIZ Authority. He is a member of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership’s board of directors and to this day professes a strong affection for his community.

The Rev. Forney serves as pastor of the Audenried/Jeanesville United Methodist Church and the First United Methodist Church in Tamaqua.

A retired special education teacher, she received an associate degree from Pennsylvania State University in Letters, Arts and Sciences; a bachelor’s degree from Kutztown University in elementary education and special education; a master’s degree from Bloomsburg University in special education; and she received her supervisory certification in special education from Bloomsburg University.

Forney chaperoned a group of United Methodist youth to Eastern Europe on Mission of Peace 1992, and she has served at the district level of the United Methodist Church in various capacities over the years: the Committee on Small Churches, co-lay leader of the North District, the Committee on Superintendency, Resource Team, the Board of Diaconal Ministry, Disaffiliation Committee, and facilitator of the local cluster.

She currently volunteers for Compassus Hospice and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

Forney and her husband, Bob, reside in Pottsville, and have two adult children, Billie Jo and David; and two grandchildren, Madeline and Matthew.

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

Poppy Queen Isabelle Swartz is the daughter of Kimberly and Ray Swartz, and the sister of Michael Pratka. She attends Tamaqua Elementary kindergarten and is a member of the Junior Auxiliary of the Tamaqua Legion.