The Memorial Day Parade is scheduled for Monday, May 26th at 10:00 am and will honor MetroWest Veterans Services Director Sarah Bateman as the Grand Marshall. The parade will start at the Parks and Recreation Building and proceed down Holliston Street to Matondi Square. The parade will include men and women who have served in our armed forces and VFW members.  Service men and women are encouraged to march in our parade.  Ceremonies will be conducted at Matondi Square. 

Sarah Bateman has worked for MetroWest Veterans Services District, serving Medway, Hopkinton, Holliston, and Ashland for the last 10 years. She worked as Director of Worcester Veterans Services from 2016 to 2017, and then returned to the District as the Director. Recently, she accepted an appointment by Senate President Spilka to serve on the state's HERO Act Veterans Quality of Life Committee. Veterans Services was certainly a departure from her prior career path. She was trying to help her father navigate health problems and his veterans' benefits, which first led her to this work.

Military service runs in the family. Her father was a Marine, and her grandfather was an Army doctor.

During WWII, her father-in-law was a helicopter repairman during the Korean War, and her husband and brother-in-law had lifelong careers in the Army. Before working in the Veterans' Services arena, Sarah earned her degree in electrical engineering from FAU in Boca Raton, FL. She worked primarily in the wireless communications field as an RF engineer consultant, designing a cellular system throughout South Carolina and Georgia. Born and raised in Belmont, MA, she attended some college before joining the U.S. Air Force. She studied electronics and RF communications at Biloxi AFB in Mississippi for almost a year before being stationed at Homestead Air Force Base south of Miami, FL. At age 10, she visited Miami with her grandparents, came home, and told her mother she was moving to Miami. Needless to say, Sarah was quite happy to get her first-choice assignment as a Wideband troop near Miami. However, it wasn't all beaches and sunshine.  As part of the 726th Tactical Control Squadron, there were a lot of tent deployments throughout the southeastern U.S., many at Avon Park bombing range in central Florida. Not exactly South Beach, but we had fun watching the bombing runs at night. She feels her last ten years serving veterans have been the most rewarding.  She has met so many wonderful people in the District. She can't think of anything better than helping veterans and their families navigate federal, state, and local veterans' benefits with the highest level of customer service.