Parnell group honors heritage by walking each year in SaPaDaPaSo parade

PARNELL - Irish roots run deep in the Duffy family.

So deep a group representing the family and their hometown of Parnell has walked in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Cedar Rapids every year since 1973 - two years before the first SaPaDaPaSo parade.

So deep that two couples in the family were married on St. Patrick's Day - in the morning so they could still march in the parade.

“Why not get married on your favorite day,” asks Rosie Duffy Lavender, 58, of Parnell.

Lavender was raised by her grandparents, Leo and Regina Duffy, in Parnell. Her grandfather's birthday was St. Patrick's Day.

“I loved my grandparents horribly and I love Parnell,” she says.

When Lars Lavender proposed to her in the summer of 1996, she couldn't think of a better day to get married than her grandfather's birthday and the day honoring Ireland.

“Ireland is my heritage,” she says. “It's in your heart and in your soul.”

Lars and Rosie Lavender were married at 9 a.m. March 17, 1997, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua.

“It was a nice wedding; very simple, but special,” she says.

After the ceremony, the couple and their guests grabbed a quick breakfast at the McDonald's drive-thru and then headed to Cedar Rapids for the 1 p.m. SaPaDaPaSo parade. They did have a reception that evening.

Still dressed in their wedding attire (although Rosie did put on tennis shoes), the newlyweds marched in the parade with the Parnell Ancestral Walking Brigade.

She won Best Female Costume and he placed second in Best Male Costume.

“St. Patrick's Day is truly a holy day for me,” she says.

Ten years later in 2007, Rosie Lavender's second cousin, Mike Harrington, married his bride, Suzy, on St. Patrick's Day.

The Harringtons got married at 9:30 a.m. at the P3 Union Hall in southeast Cedar Rapids. After brunch, they lined up for the parade, him in his kilt and her in her Irish dress.

They also won a first place trophy that year.

Mike Harrington, 55, wouldn't consider missing marching in the parade, a tradition started in 1973 by his mother, Peggy Harrington, her sisters, Colleen Schropp, Marilyn Moeller and the late Kaye Powrie, and other Duffy descendants.

The group walks behind a banner that says “Did Your Mother Come From Ireland? Our Mother Came From Parnell.”

Although Mike Harrington grew up in Marion and has never lived in Parnell, he has always had strong connections to the small Iowa County town.

“I was 12 years old when I told my mom I made a friend whose parents weren't from Parnell,” he says.

He grew up spending most weekends with family in Parnell.

“I grew up laughing and laughing,” he says. “You can choose to look at the lighter side of any situation. They threw away their burdens for a couple hours. They're just good people.”

Harrington passed down his Irish pride to his children.

“None of my five children ever went to school on St. Patrick's Day,” he says.

He took over the Parnell walking brigade with his children when his mother starting wintering in Arizona after his father, Jim, died in 2003.

His aunt, Kaye Powrie, an avid SaPaDaPaSo member, died October 2007. In her honor, the Parnell brigade has secured the second position each year in the parade.

Harrington points out the parade is always on the 17th and doesn't stop for weather.

“We've had some horrendous weather,” he says. “On those days, you can be sure everybody out there is Irish.”

And on St. Patrick's Day, you can be sure the Parnell group will be walking behind the banner honoring their heritage and hometown.

“It's not just about the Duffys, but Parnell and the people who grew up there,” Harrington says.