by Carlene Phillips ·
Friday, July 10, 2026
The family of Parade Marshal Pat Jennings, who died days before the parade, ride down Ayer Road. Seated on back of car, Patrice Jennings (left) and Meaghan Jennings Mitchell; in front, Della Jennings. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
It was bittersweet that the Fourth of July Committee had chosen Pat Jennings as the grand marshal for the 2026 town parade. Jennings died earlier in the week, but she had been able to acknowledge the tribute. Her daughter Della said that her mom was thrilled at the prospect of becoming grand marshal and accepted gracefully, saying if she’s alive, she’d be there and if not, she’d watch.
Committee Chair Christopher Chalifoux said, “We selected Pat in recognition of the many years she organized the antique auto portion of the parade. She was also very active in other groups within the community.” The committee chose to still have the grand marshal car in the parade with Jennings’s name on it, and her daughter Della and granddaughters Meaghan and Patrice rode in her honor.
This was not the first time Jennings had been recognized for her contributions to numerous town organizations. In 2017 she was Citizen of Note, and she said at the time that the fact the honor was given for her volunteering “strikes close to home.” Jennings said she believed she had used her talents well, and it was rewarding to be thanked for them. Such plaudits were particularly meaningful in her older age.
Volunteering seemed second nature to Jennings. She attributed it to having been born with a lot of energy, being an athlete, and being interested in lots of things. She was a longtime member of the Warner Free Lecture Trust, the Congregational Church, Harvard Woman’s Club, Garden Club of Harvard, a board member of the Council on Aging and then part of the COA Friends, Hildreth School Council, the Historical Society, and the War Monuments Committee. Her daughter Della once remarked that it would be easier to name the organizations of which she was not a part.
What distinguished Jennings is that she not only served on committees, she took an active part in all of them—initiating ideas and taking the lead on following through. Chalifoux thinks it was Jennings’ idea to include antique cars in the parade; he isn’t sure, since the start of them predates his seven years on the committee. She was instrumental in organizing the Friends of COA’s First Night; in setting up a display at the senior center celebrating the nation’s 250th with photos of items from the Historical Society; in serving as chair of Garden Club’s membership committee; and playing the role of an aggrieved wife in a temperance program at HHS. She was clerk of the works for the addition to the Congregational Church and on the sewer committee that finally got the work done after five years of study. All this she did with good cheer and boundless energy.
Pat Jennings. (Courtesy photo)
Jennings was especially invested in the War Monuments Committee’s restoration of the World War I memorial and in all the work the committee did in updating the World War II memorial—adding two memorial stones to flank the original one from 1952. One of those stones has a plaque with the committee’s carefully researched list of veterans from WWII, and the other honors veterans of the Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf wars. Jennings said at the time that she had no personal connection to the military but had always been interested in WWII—a trip to Normandy had been a “life-changing” experience.
In a conversation several years ago, Jennings recounted how she managed to keep all her committees straight and accomplish everything she had offered to do. As soon as she got home from a meeting, she went to her large desk calendar, filled in any future dates, and wrote down what she agreed to do. She had a folder for each committee in which she filed relevant material. The day after a meeting she would go to her calendar and do what she needed to do—like “Call Lynch Paint for quote on paint for flagpole.” Then she crossed off that item. After that, she could enjoy the day. “It’s very freeing to know that everything on the calendar is done,” she said. Then the crucial words: “ I have never been a procrastinator.”
All this time and energy that Jennings spent volunteering by no means precluded other things that she loved—spending time with her family and cheerleading for her granddaughters, gardening at her condo, baking, and traveling. In a recent email Lucy Wallace, Jennings’s good friend and fellow traveler, said, “She was always game to go somewhere new. … I remember when we bought/won the African safari at the NRWA auction and what a spur of the moment decision we made to bid on it. What a hoot!”