Garrick Mallery named grand marshal of Noblesville’s annual holiday parade

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Dressed as Santa, Garrick Mallery and his two helpers, NHS freshman Pam Swhier, left, and Carol Jo Kenley, ride on a fire truck in the inaugural Noblesville Christmas Parade in 1962. (Newspaper clipping provided by Garrick Mallery)
Dressed as Santa, Garrick Mallery and his two helpers, NHS freshman Pam Swhier, left, and Carol Jo Kenley, ride on a fire truck in the inaugural Noblesville Christmas Parade in 1962. (Newspaper clipping provided by Garrick Mallery)

Mayor John Ditslear announced Nov. 18 that the grand marshal of this year’s holiday parade will be Garrick Mallery. Mallery, whose family’s roots in Noblesville date back to 1820, turns 88 on Dec. 21.

Mallery
Mallery

After graduating high school, Mallery attended Purdue University for one semester before he joined the U.S. Army in 1946 and served as an officer in the Cryptography Division. After two years of service, Mallery returned to Purdue where he graduated with a degree in agricultural economics and hosted a weekly farm show on the college’s radio station.

Mallery returned to Noblesville in 1951 and started his career in real estate.

Other accomplishments in Mallery’s life include being one of the Noblesville Elementary Football League’s founders, finance chairman for the construction of First United Methodist Church on Monument Street, a dedicated 4-H leader for more than 25 years, and a longtime president and director of the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce. In the 1960s, Mallery organized the Hamilton Co. Health Dept. and Hamilton Co. Soil and Water Conservation District.

“It’s hard to throw a stone across Noblesville without having it hit somewhere that Garrick Mallery has had an impact on. He has been a leader in our city for decades,” Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear said. “Garrick Mallery has put his stamp on Noblesville and Hamilton County by appraising, developing, buying and selling real estate. He has seen it all from selling his first home in Noblesville for $3,000 in 1947 to helping other developers locate and purchase a site he used to pass by on bus on the way to school, now known across the nation as Klipsch Music Center.”

In 1955, Mallery served on a three-person board appointed to recount the nearly 1,800 votes cast in the Nov. 8 Noblesville general election that year. Republican candidates for mayor, clerk-treasurer and two councilors defeated their Democratic challengers by a range of four to 14 votes. The three men spent two days hand counting all of the paper ballots.

Prior to White River Elementary School’s opening , the land was farmed on and owned by Mallery’s family. During the dedication ceremony, Mallery presented the original deed to the property – a land grant deed signed in 1824 by President James Monroe – to the school corporation.

“That’s my legacy – giving land to Noblesville Schools for White River Elementary,” Mallery said.

In 1962, Mallery played Santa in the inaugural Noblesville Christmas Parade and fondly remembers the experience of that first year. He was joined by his helpers, Pam Swhier and Carol Jo Kenley, and rode atop a Noblesville fire truck.

“There was a swarm of people. I’ve never seen so many people. The paper said 8,000 people attended, but Noblesville only had a population of 5,000 at that time so people came to Noblesville for the parade,” Mallery said. “When they put it together, I guess they thought I was bigger than anybody else. I was glad to play Santa because I had been him before for a few stores.”

After the first year, he continued portraying Santa in the parade for the next seven or eight years and reprised the role at the 50th anniversary in 2012.

“I love Noblesville and the people. There are a lot of good people here, and we’ve got businesses, recreation, parks – anything you could want,” Mallery said.

His wife, Nancy, died in 2009 after 54 years of marriage. They have four children: daughter, Carol Payne, a mortgage underwriter; and sons, David, food business; Fred, retired real estate; and John, a banker. He also has eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The parade will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 29. To request a parade entry form, call Amy at 770-2003 or e-mail [email protected].


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