With social gatherings limited due to the coronavirus, the children of Donald K. Green of Horine wanted to find a way to make their father’s 90th birthday special but still stay safe.
They succeeded.
A 28-vehicle parade was held Saturday (March 28) in front of his home.
The birthday parade started about 3 p.m., when family members and friends drove by, and Green watched from a lawn chair in his driveway.
“My, golly, what a parade!” he said. “I was out waving at everybody. What a thing to happen!”
Among the family members who participated were Green’s children: Gabrielle Colleen Crocker, Richard Green, Julie Russell, Jeannie Graves and Andrea Politte. Another one of his children, Donald Guthrey, had to stay in Seattle, Wash., because of quarantine restrictions.
Crocker said she was thrilled at how the parade came off, particularly since it had stormed earlier in the day.
“It was still raining when we were out setting it up,” she said. “It stopped around when the parade started.”
Crocker said it was not hard to find people to join the parade.
“My dad is a blessing,” she said. “So many people love him.”
In addition to family and friends, some strangers joined the parade and many people came out of their houses to wave at the parade passing by, she said.
Green was born March 28, 1930, in Carrington, N.D., to Edna (Bonderud) and Howard F. Green, a drummer with Lawrence Welk’s big band.
A widower, Donald Green has been a member of Zion Lutheran Church in Pevely for 55 years. He still bowls on a team twice a week and finds time to help Politte at her Fore Honor Golf & Event Center at Deer Creek USA in House Springs.
Green said he knew a surprise was being planned for his birthday.
“They said there was something going to happen,” he said. “I didn’t know 28 cars were going to come by. It was just an exciting thing and a wonderful time.”
Green said no one had ever organized a parade in his honor before.
“Heck no, never,” Green said.
