You won’t find someone wearing a sports jersey in the grand marshal’s car at this year’s Pet Parade.

The grand marshals this year represent those past and present who knew or know something about marshaling forces to get the job done.

This year’s parade theme, “Great Women of La Grange,” pays tribute to six women — three living, three who have passed on — who have made lasting contributions to the greater La Grange community.

Helen Sauer Brown, Helen B. Olson and Ann Painter all graciously accepted the honor, while Mildred Breen, Lorraine Burkey and Minnie Carr were given the honor posthumously.

While Helen Sauer Brown is no stranger to high honors, this one is a pleasure, she said.

“I felt very good about it: honored, excited, happy,” Brown said.

In 2000, the 85-year-old former owner of Nettle Creek Home Furnishings in La Grange was named Woman of the Century by the West Suburban Chamber of Commerce.

“I felt that was an exceedingly great honor,” she said.  Brown also served as the first woman president of the group.

She and her husband, Thomas F. Brown, who served as village trustee from 1968 to 1973, then president from 1973 to 1977, moved to La Grange in 1954. Brown has been an active member of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and School, Nazareth Academy Mothers Club and the St. Ignatius Mothers  Club. She also served on the board of the Community Family Service and Mental Health Association.

Helen B. Olson said her first reaction to being selected as a grand marshal was: “Why?”

“They probably couldn’t find anyone else,” she said. However, Olson has been with the Pet Parade from the start.

“I’m one of the oldest Pet Parade people on the Breen list,” Olson said, referring to the Pet Parade’s founding family. Olson will celebrate her 92nd birthday July 2.

A secretary by profession, she worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha before coming to La Grange in 1940. She worked as a hospital fundraiser then for the yet-to-be-built La Grange Memorial Hospital. She would also serve as executive secretary to the West Suburban Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s and on the village’s Bicentennial Commission in 1975.

A charter member of the La Grange Area Historical Society, Olson said she remains active in the American Legion Auxiliary, Robert E. Coulter Post 1941. She was named Unit Member of the Year in 2003.

La Grange Highlands resident Ann Painter, who will celebrate her 88th birthday in July, said she was thrilled when she heard of the company she was keeping.

“They mentioned the other two Helens, and I was delighted to be with them; I have known them for a while,” Painter said.

Painter, a former air-traffic controller for the Greater Cincinnati Airport, came to the La Grange area in 1952 with her TWA pilot husband, the late Rex. She then began volunteering to numerous causes, including the United Way, where she would serve a term as president, and the Cornershop in La Grange.

Painter also worked to form the La Grange Senior Center and raised money for the new La Grange Memorial Hospital.

A former Republican committeeman, Painter’s party loyalties go back to her days at the University of Illinois as a student when she campaigned for Wendel Wilkey in 1940.

She would go on to serve as Lyons Township supervisor beginning in 1977.

As for her volunteer spirit, Painter said it’s a way in which she measures herself.

“I always figured if I don’t do something for my community, then when I die, if it’s not any better than when I came in, I failed,” she said. “I’m real proud of the community and the agencies we have. It says something about the people living in the La Grange area.”

The esteemed co-marshals who have died also hold title to numerous contributions to the community.

Mildred Breen has long been considered the matriarch of the Pet Parade, who is remembered for her lavish parade breakfast and luncheon she hosted for parade volunteers. Besides her behind-the-scenes involvement with her husband Edward Breen’s many endeavors, Mildred served as an election judge and was an active member of St. Francis Xavier Church.

Lorraine Burkey was known as a tireless volunteer and a founding member of the La Grange Area Historical Society. She was also instrumental in implementing a landscaping plan for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks downtown through the PLUS organization.

She served as a commissioner for the Park Board of La Grange from 1957 to 1969.

Minnie Carr came to La Grange in 1934 and immersed herself in a movement to improve homes and gardens. She was active in the Red Cross and Community Chest, the Federated Colored Women’s Club, the Big Sisters Club, the Lyceum Culture Club, Eastside Civic Club, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and African Methodist Episcopal Church. She also was a co-founder of the La Grange Interracial Fellowship.