MONTAGUE — Distant car horns rang from somewhere uphill of the usually quiet Riverside Drive in Turners Falls. Then from around the corner came a police car, sirens and lights on, followed by a parade of cars painted colorfully, honking their horns, people leaning out from the windows.
The display was for Sharon Girard, a much-loved longtime Turners Falls resident, now three years retired from her job in the guidance office of Turners Falls High School.
Girard’s immune system was severely weakened by an experimental stem-cell transplant treatment for leukemia. On doctor’s orders, she had minimal social contact for the last year. Her few visitors in that time had to wear masks and gloves. She could go for walks outside only on the condition that she avoid others, or she could go out in a car.
Thursday was her first day un-quarantined. Her family was nervous about having a lot of visitors for her first day out. Her friends, wanting to see her anyway, compromised with a parade.
“She has no idea about this,” said Jen Luciano, a seventh-grade teacher at Turners Falls High School, before the parade started. “She thinks she’s going on a boat with her children and grandchildren.”
Luciano and about a hundred others were in the parking lot of Turners Falls High School, painting signs, planning their route, coordinating with their police escort.
“As you can tell,” she said, gesturing around the crowded parking lot, “she is a very social person. Being away from people for a year was a struggle.”
Among those were the “Ladies of ’69,” who graduated from Turners Falls High School with Girard in 1969, and an inflatable doll named Rod, who has traveled with the group for the last 10 years and is always dressed for the occasion, said Marie Putala.
For the parade, Rod was wearing a doctor’s uniform and surgical mask.
“Sharon’s going to be in heaven when she sees Rod attend her celebration,” Putala said.
At 11 a.m. the parade headed down Turners Falls Road and Unity Street, then snuck behind Riverside Drive via Grove Street to come out in front of Girard’s house.
Girard had been celebrating quietly at home with her two daughters and their families. A few balloons were tethered outside. Thursday, as her first day un-quarantined, was also the first day she could hug family members, she later said. They were getting ready for the boat ride.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to call Scotty’s and order our grinders,’” Girard said. “Then I heard a horn, and my girls said, ‘You’d better come out.’”
She seemed genuinely surprised, and happily so.
“I love people. This is what I’ve been waiting for,” Girard said. “But I didn’t think there’d be this many.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ex 261.