Keene Memorial Day event set for Sunday

Start your Memorial Day weekend celebrations with the 144th annual Keene Veterans Memorial Celebration Sunday, May 24, complete with a special church service, lunch and a noon parade.

At 9:30 a.m. a veterans memorial church service will be held at Keene United Methodist Church with a veterans slide show and featured speaker Lisa McCoy of the Keene area.

McCoy is a U.S. Army disabled veteran. She served as a military policeman (95B) from 1998-2007 on active duty with the inactive ready reserves and as an Army reservist, achieving the rank of E-4 specialist, and was honorably discharged from the military.

She attended basic combat training and advanced individual training at Ft. McClellan, Alabama and became permanent party at Ft. Bliss, Texas, where she enforced military law and order, conducted police intelligence operations, internment/resettlement, area security, and maneuver and mobility support. She entered the individual ready reserves before transitioning to the selected reserve.

In 2003 McCoy transferred to the 447th MP Co, located in Zanesville, where she trained and equipped herself and her soldiers in the rear detachment at the scale and speed needed to support her deployed unit during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As an E-4 she took the task as a squad leader, where her role was that of a noncommissioned officer, leading soldiers, handling planning, supervision and ensuring standards leading to the overall readiness of her soldiers.

In 2006 she reassigned to the 303rd MP Co, located in Jackson, Michigan, with the mission of deploying to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She completed her premobilization at Ft. Dix, New Jersey and ran through the mobilization exercises. Days prior before deployment to Iraq, McCoy encountered serious medical issues and was then nondeployable. She went to the rear detachment, where she received an honorable discharge in 2007.

In the civilian sector, McCoy obtained an Associate of Applied Science in Forensic Science Technology in 2009 from Central Ohio Technical College and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa. She also was a student intern with the Newark Crime Lab and a COTC student employee in the forensic science lab.

Simultaneously, McCoy became licensed as a volunteer firefighter through the Ohio Department of Public Safety in 2007 and worked as a part-time paid volunteer firefighter with Walhonding Valley Fire District, Bowen Station (Jackson) and Mary Ann Township Fire Department in Newark. She was a member of the ORDA K-9 Search and Rescue Team with her Cadaver K-9 named Sig serving as a K-9 handler and media liaison.

She then took a job as a receptionist at OhioMeansJobs in 2015 before accepting the role of fraud investigator and a child care coordinator in 2017 with Coshocton Job & Family Services, becoming certified as a fraud investigator. She was the recipient of the director’s award for excellence in claims management in 2017 and received 2019’s distinguished service award, both from the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.

McCoy currently works as a high school secretary at River View High School, a color guard adviser and volunteers as a mentor with the high school’s senior projects. She is the mother of identical twin boys. She also engages with the Coshocton County Leadership Alumni Class of 2019 and advisory board (former chair), volunteers with Magic Makers 4-H Club and supports first responders in her community.

McCoy is enthusiastic about serving others whenever and however she can, fostering resilience within her community.

After her presentation the members of the Keene United Methodist Church will serve a lunch from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the fellowship hall.

The Veterans Memorial Parade in Keene will start at noon and will be led by Grand Marshal Gregory Hutchison, Walhonding Rube Band and the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office. Members of the Warsaw American Legion Post 634 will give a 21 gun salute at the Veterans Monument in Keene.

Hutchison was born Oct. 5, 1963, to Ellen and Curtis Hutchison in Wooster. He graduated in 1983 from River View High School and the Coshocton County Career Center. He entered the Navy in August 1983. He was on active duty from August 1983 to August 1987. From 1987-89 he was on active-duty reserve, and he was inactive reserve from 1989-91.

Hutchison was an E4 petty officer third class. While in the Navy, he worked in the compressor pump shop, Fresh Air Snipes, and the O2 N2 shop making liquid oxygen for the pilots. While in the Navy, he traveled to the Bahamas, Palma, Spain, Naples, Italy, Pisa, Egypt, Israel and Turkey.

After his service in the Navy, he returned home and worked at Rubbermaid. For the last 26 years, he has worked at McWane Ductile, currently a lathe operator, and is looking forward to retirement. He is a member of the Keene United Methodist Church.

His family includes his wife Joan and daughters Emily, Kayla and Tori. He has five grandsons and one granddaughter. His mother is Ellen McKee, and he said his brother Bill is a jar head. He also has a dog, Lucy.

In his spare time, he enjoys being out in the woods, deer hunting, rooting for the Cleveland Browns and playing poker with his deer hunting buddies.

The Keene Memorial Day Parade, held since 1882, is recognized as the second oldest continuously held Memorial Day parade in Ohio. Other Memorial Day events planned throughout the county include the following:

—Blissfield Memorial Day services at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 24 at the Blissfield Cemetery. The guest speaker will be Aaron M. Shearer.

—Plainfield Memorial Day services at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 24 at the Plainfield Cemetery (Plainfield United Methodist Church, in case of inclement weather).

—Walhonding Valley - Warsaw Parade at 1 p.m. Monday, May 25 with the services immediately following at Valley View Cemetery. The guest speaker will be Ronda Hobbs.

—The annual Coshocton Memorial Day Parade at 10 a.m. Monday, May 25 with the lineup beginning at 8:30 a.m. between the Central Christian Church and Sacred Heart Church at the corner of Main and Eighth streets (enter Eighth Street from Walnut Street). Immediately following the parade, services will be held on Court Square with a special tribute to fallen comrades who passed away since Memorial Day 2025. The Coshocton County Veterans Council and Service Office mailed parade forms in March. If you have not received an application, call the office at 740-622-2313 or stop by at 318 Main St., Court House.