Kathy McGee Burns
The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association carefully matched its parade theme to its selection of grand marshal this year. The parade will honor families, and its grand marshal, Kathy McGee Burns, has a huge one: She’s the mother of nine children.
But there’s far more to Burns than motherhood on a grand scale. She sits on the boards of most of the Irish organizations in Philadelphia—and has headed most of them at one time or another. She has served as president of the Donegal Association, the parade board, is currently the president of the Delaware Valley Hall of Fame (which inducted her into the hall in 2012), and serves on the boards of the Irish Center, the Claddagh Fund, and the St. Malachy’s School Advisory Board. She was the driving force behind the direct mail campaign to raise money for the Irish Center this year and has thrown her support—financial and otherwise—behind the Duffy’s Cut project, whose board she now sits on. In 2010, she was one of the first recipients of the Inspirational Irish Women awards.
Read more about the woman who will be leading the parade here.
The parade will be held rain or shine on Sunday, March 15.
