We’re just a few weeks away from the 2025 United Irish Associations of West Hudson’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade and so there’s no better time to introduce you to the parade’s three marshals than right now. (We thank JR O’Donnell, Marybeth Kennedy, Melanie Ryan and Michael Mara for their guidance.)
Grand Marshal Mark Wiggins
Mark Wiggins was born Dec. 18, 1964, in Kearny, to Charles and Margaret (nee Radford). His father was a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus and the Superintendent of Public Works for the Town of Kearny. His paternal grandparents, Charles and Catherine, were also well-known members of the Kearny community.
He attended both Lincoln and Roosevelt schools and graduated in 1982 from Seton Hall Preparatory School.
Wiggins received his associate degree from St. Peter’s College in Jersey City and graduated from Mortuary School at Mercer County Community College in 1987. He has been married to Noreen (nee Russell) for over 37 years.
He has been the owner/director of the Armitage & Wiggins Funeral Home on Belgrove Drive since 1996 where he started his career at the age of 18. Wiggins says he is most proud of his three children — Conor, Madison and Chloe — and is absolutely over the moon in love with his granddaughter, Charlotte, 2, and can’t wait for the new baby on the way.
Wiggins’s involvement in the community has been extensive over the years.
As a young man, he was an extremely active member and Youth President of Operation Friendship, a local program that facilitated international summer exchange visits between Kearny, Ireland, Scotland and other European destinations.
He served as a commissioner of the Civil Rights Committee of Kearny and Commissioner of the Kearny Board of Health. He was president of both the Optimist Club of Kearny and the West Hudson/South Bergen Optimist Club. He also served as president of the West Hudson/South Bergen Chamber of Commerce.
Mark and Noreen are founding members of the Friends of the Kearny NJ Free Public Library and volunteered for years as part of the Pre-Cana team at Queen of Peace Church. Wiggins was recognized by the Archdiocese of Newark for his outstanding service to the Catholic Cemeteries at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Sacred Heart, he served on the committee that organized Pope John Paul II’s visit to our area in 1995 and has served as a eucharistic minister for many years.
In 2015, he served as the Toastmaster of the Friends of Erin 53rd Annual Dinner-Dance.
In 2016, Mark was proud to receive the Citizen of the Year Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1302.
More important than all of his involvement in various community organizations, is Mark’s special relationship with the people of Kearny in their time of need. There are so very many families in Kearny who can attest to his genuine and caring nature and his special talent of helping grieving families through difficult times.
Deputy Grand Marshal Donna Bocchino
Donna Bocchino was born Sept. 16, 1967, at West Hudson Hospital in Kearny.
Raised in North Arlington with her two sisters, she attended Queen of Peace grammar and high schools graduating in 1985. She went on to marry and have four children and moved to Kearny in 1995. She immediately became involved in the community by volunteering her time with her children’s sports. She became one of the Kearny Generals cheerleading advisers and held a seat on the Eboard for several years. She spent many Sundays setting up the field for home games and riding the bus to away games as a chaperone.
Many people will remember her selling 50/50s before each home game and guilting people into buying an arm’s length.
She helped immensely with the Kearny recreation wrestling team by getting Lincoln School ready each Saturday morning during the season to host many wrestling teams. She made sure the concession stand was stocked and had plenty of parent volunteers to help and she also became pretty good at setting up the matches for the day, being the announcer and keeping everything moving and organized.
During baseball/softball season, you would find her watching games either at multiple fields or in one of the concession stands at the Gunell Oval. She was always prepared with orange wedges for the kids to keep them hydrated.
As her children moved on to high school, she became the Kearny Kardinals Booster Club president and Kardinals Wrestling Booster Club vice president. Again, her focus was on making sure the athletes had everything they needed, making sure each event ran smoothly and that each athlete enjoyed their experience.
She spent many hours cleaning and painting the boys’ football locker room prior to each season, and then ultimately decorating for the last home game. Each home game, the athletes would head back to the locker room and know they were going to be fed because she made sure they had sandwiches, sodas and snacks waiting for them.
High School wrestling experienced the same with her presence. She loved being involved with the annual Christmas tournament. If you had the opportunity to attend, you could not have missed her wearing her ever-changing Christmas hats.
The District 16 Wrestling Tournament that took place in February had a tradition that on the Saturday of the tournament, there was a break between the morning and evening bouts. She opened her home to all of the Kearny athletes, the coaches, parents, siblings and friends to come and eat relax and recharge for the evening session. She did this for many years and looked forward to it every time.
She has planned numerous fundraisers that benefitted the athletes in Kearny as well as residents who were in need. Bus trips, dances and canning to name a few.
Donna spent 13 years in Kearny and loved every minute of it. The Football Booster Club honored her as the Kearny Kardinal of the Year in 2003, which she says was a very humbling experience.
Sadly, her personal life changed in 2008 and she ultimately had to return to her birth town. She continued to help with whatever anyone asked of her in Kearny although she was no longer a Kearny resident. That did not matter to her. She was still committed to the people and youth of Kearny.
Eventually it was time to pass the torch to the younger generation of parents and she decided to offer her time and compassion to her new community, North Arlington. She ran for the one-year unexpired term of councilmember in 2019 and won.
She then ran for election the following year for a full, three-year term in 2020 and won by a landslide. She has served as liaison to the Library Board, Health Department and is currently the liaison for the NA Recreation Committee, and Planning Board and Zoning boards.
She is up for re-election this November in what is so far an uncontested election.
Honoring our military is very important to Donna, so she brought the Military Veterans Banner Program to Ridge Road — a program that has been taken on other towns, following her lead.
She has gotten calls from Carlstadt, East Rutherford and Kearny asking for information on how to get started. Many of which have already implemented their own programs.
During the height of Covid, she and her fellow councilmembers came up with safe and enjoyable ways to engage with the community so they would not feel as if all was lost. She collaborated and was hands on with “Crafting with the Council,” “Meet the Easter Bunny” and the now annual “Pumpkin Patch and Parade” to name a few.
She says she and her fellow councilmembers work hard every day to come up with ideas to lessen the burden of taxes on the residents of North Arlington and to ensure that they receive the best services. Her experience in Kearny has led to her success as a public servant in North Arlington and is a very important and fond memory in her life.
Donna worked part time for Dr. Joseph Maggio of Kearny while her children were attending school and then became a full-time employee for the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority (formerly NJ Meadowlands Commission) in 2005. She is coming up on her 19th anniversary as the plan review administrator in the Plan Review Department.
She loves her job and says she gets to meet so many interesting people each day.
Donna is the grandmother of four boys and two girls and they are the light and joy in her life.
Deputy Grand Marshal Michael Mara
Michael Mara was born into an Irish-American family in 1980, the fourth child of Tom and Helen Mara. After attending St. Stephen’s School, he graduated from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City in 1998. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Fordham University in 2002. While at Fordham, he spent a semester studying abroad at the American College in Dublin, Ireland. This time spent in Ireland highlighted his love of Irish music, culture and history.
Throughout his life, Mara participated in youth soccer as a player, coach and administrator in the Kearny Thistle soccer program and the Kearny Youth Soccer Recreation program. He has continued with Thistle serving as the executive director in charge of soccer operations.
During his tenure, Thistle has grown to 32 boys and girls teams from age 6 through adult. He also proudly coached the Kearny High School Boys freshman team for several years and remains a volunteer on staff.
Mara says his passion for soccer includes supporting the famous Glasgow Celtic FC and the Republic of Ireland’s National Team. He enjoyed following these teams by traveling to games in Dublin, Glasgow, Seattle, Philadelphia, and other great cities with his family.
Mara married Kristen Carey Mara in July 2008. Kristen is also part of an Irish-American family and is a teacher in the Kearny school system. They currently reside in Kearny with their two sons, James and Brendan. Both sons inherited the family love for soccer.
After a successful career in finance in sales and trading roles, Mara opted to make a career change. He purchased a soccer franchise and opened a soccer specialty retail store called Soccer Post Kearny, located on Kearny Avenue.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.