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D'Entremonet to lead parade By Myles Murphy Ashland Daily Tidings Longtime Ashlander Frank D'Entremont is this year's July 4 parade grand marshal, and will lead the slow march down the Siskiyou Boulevard in less than a week. "They said I don't do many special duties," D'Entremont said. "Just look nice and wave." Very active in community affairs over the years - and quickly running out of honors to accept in Ashland - the 86-year-old police officer was probably the only person in the city surprised at the choice. "You have to have some involvement in the community to be chosen as Grand Marshal," Chamber of Commerce Fourth of July Committee Chair Yolanda Nagel said. "He started the volunteer program for the Ashland Police Department, and he set it up really well. He really deserves the honor." In 1994, D'Entremont was the first recipient of the city's Ragland Award, which honors outstanding volunteer efforts in the community. After careers as an engineer, jeweler, fashion photographer and police officer, D'Entremont is now an ex-retiree showing little signs of slowing down. He runs an office that oversees hundreds of community service volunteers out of the Ashland Police Department "I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades," D'Entremont said. D'Entremont and his wife , Irene, moved to Ashland in 1956, when he transferred to the Ashland Police Department from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. He retired from the force in 1977, but continued to work for the Ashland police in various programs until 1984. That year, he returned to the police department as a permanent, part-time employee. The same year, he was featured in the national news when it was discovered that he is the oldest active police officer in the country. D'Entremont worked his way up through the ranks, from sergeant to detective to lieutenant. After his retirement in 1997, he worked as a consultant and later as a bailiff for the Ashland Municipal Court. D'Entremont has lost track of number of Ashland July 4 parades he has been in, but he has participated in most of them, marching as a member of the American Legion. "It's a tradition," he said. The grand marshal is picked by the Ashland Chamber of Fourth of July Committee, which chooses from nominations submitted by residents. Past grand marshals for the Fourth of July parade in Ashland include Julie Reynolds in 2002, Dana Welsh in 2001, Steve Groveman, who was honored posthumously in 2000, Rick Nagel in 1999, Brian Almquist in 1998 and Jim Nagel in 1997. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -