The Enterprise Chamber of Commerce has chosen LaWanda Hayes Grill to be the Grand Marshal for the 2016 World's Smallest St. Patrick's Day Parade.
Grill's family, the Clan Hayes, can trace its roots to County Wexford on the southeastern coast of Ireland.
Grill's great-grandfather, Andrew Mariaq Hayes, left County Cork, also on the southeastern coast of Ireland, in 1862 during a 30-year period when over 2 million Irish immigrated to America.
Records show that her great-grandfather worked as a hand on a coastal fishing boat that was docked at the end of Kilkenny Road in Bryan County.
Grill's grandfather, Lonnie William Hayes, was born in Bryan County and moved to Savannah Ga. when he was 19. He continued in his father's footsteps, crewing on offshore fishing and shrimping boats.
Grill's father, James Lamar Hayes, instead became a machinist. He married Grill's mother, Billie Carter, and Grill was born in 1959.
She married Fred Grill, a retired Army aviator. They own Frogz Restaurant in New Brockton.
The St. Patrick's Day Parade will be held on Thursday, March 17. The parade will begin at noon on East College Street.
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