By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Colleen St. Clair Weatherspoon, a Navy veteran of the Grenada/Panama era, will lead the city’s Memorial Day parade as grand marshal when the patriotic procession steps off at 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Weatherspoon, who served stateside during the U.S. invasions of Grenada in 1983 and Panama in 1989, will guide the more than 40-unit procession of veterans, dignitaries and bands along the 1.5-mile parade route, which follows Campbell Avenue from Captain Thomas Boulevard to Center Street.
Like her grand marshal predecessors, she embraced the recognition with typical grace and humility.
“I am so honored to be selected as grand marshal of the West Haven Memorial Day parade,” said Weatherspoon, who serves as the commander of American Legion Post 196 of Milford, the East Shore post’s first female at the helm. “I have watched this parade all my life, both as a little kid and then as a mom of three kids, watching them march in a variety of Little League or soccer teams through the years.
“Being a Navy veteran has always been one of my proudest achievements. Now I consider being grand marshal of a parade in my hometown one of my proudest moments.”
Weatherspoon was chosen by the Veterans Council, which helps the city organize the annual parade, for her years of service to the military, her fellow vets and her community, the latter of which is the cornerstone of the qualifications for grand marshal, council President Dave Ricci said.
“Colleen St. Clair Weatherspoon served her country with honor during a pivotal time in our history,” Mayor Dorinda Borer said. “She has continually advocated for all veterans throughout her life. As the first female commander of American Legion Post 196, she continues to lead with strength, dedication and a deep commitment to her fellow veterans. She makes West Haven proud.”
The 2025 edition of southern Connecticut’s oldest and largest Memorial Day parade has no rain date and will feature three marching divisions and a military division, as well as special accommodations for disabled veterans.
The procession will include an eight-seat golf cart carrying former grand marshals that is adorned with a star gracing the names of those deceased. Other veterans will ride on a float.
It will also include a flyover by a C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft operated by the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Weatherspoon will lead the procession on foot with the West Haven Police Honor Guard.
The 90-minute parade, in memory of the deceased members of the U.S. armed forces of all wars, will showcase the city’s legion of veterans groups, including West Haven Vietnam Veterans, Surfside Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9422.
The procession, headlined by the Connecticut Army National Guard’s 102nd Army Band, will include the West Haven High School and Bailey Middle School marching bands, the East Rock Brass Band, and the New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums, as well as bands from the Rock House School of Music.
It will include members of the West Haven High cheerleading and dance teams, cheerleaders from the West Haven Seahawks, and members of the Mulkerin School of Irish Dance.
The procession will also spotlight the traditional contingent of youth organizations and sports leagues, dance troupes and Scout troops, fraternal organizations and service clubs, local and state leaders, police officers and firefighters.
After the parade, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the World War I Armistice Memorial on the Green.
Weatherspoon was born to Raymond and Kathleen Bowler St. Clair and grew up with her two brothers on Prospect Avenue in West Haven’s West Shore neighborhood. She graduated from West Haven High in 1982.
In October 1983, Weatherspoon enlisted in the Navy at age 17. She completed basic training eight weeks later at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida.
After boot camp, she was stationed at Naval Station Mare Island in Vallejo, California, where she worked on a tugboat crew moving nuclear submarines in and out of a drydock.
She was then promoted to the rating of torpedoman’s mate and was stationed at the MK 48 Torpedo Intermediate Maintenance Facility on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, where she assembled and tested warhead and exercise submarine torpedoes.
On Oct. 25, 1983, the United States invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada, followed by the Central American country of Panama on Dec. 20, 1989. In Grenada, Operation Urgent Fury, which lasted eight days, the U.S. intervened to secure the evacuation of American students and restore democracy after a coup that ousted Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. In Panama, Operation Just Cause, which lasted just over a month, the U.S. invaded to capture dictator and Gen. Manuel Noriega, who was accused of drug trafficking and suppressing democracy.
Weatherspoon was honorably discharged from the Navy in August 1991. She received the Good Conduct Medal and the Meritorious Unit Commendation.
After the Navy, Weatherspoon returned to her native West Haven and worked as a sales coordinator at Bayer HealthCare from 1993 to 2007.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Albertus Magnus College in 2002.
From 2007 to 2022, Weatherspoon worked as a senior marketing project coordinator at Medtronic, a medical equipment manufacturer.
Since July 2023, she has worked as a furniture, fixtures and equipment planner at Yale New Haven Health System.
Weatherspoon lives on White Street in the center of West Haven and is a member of Elks Lodge 1537.
She and her former husband, Marine Corps veteran and West Haven police Sgt. Eric Weatherspoon, have three children — Jordyn, Donovan and Morgan Weatherspoon — and a 1-year-old granddaughter, Ivy.
The couple had met and wed while stationed in Hawaii.
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