The annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade will be held in downtown Eastman on Monday, January 20 at 1:00 p.m. Lineup for the parade will begin at 12:00 noon in front of the Eastman Post Office.This year, Barbara B. Francis has been chosen for the grand marshal. She is the daughter of the late Oscar and Carrie Barden. She graduated from Peabody High School and attended and graduated from Fort Valley State University with a B.S. Degree in Natural Sciences and Elementary Education.
She was married to the late Edward L. Francis. They have three children and five grandchildren. Francis is a former teacher and entrepreneur. She is a member of the NAACP, Rose Beulah Chapter #251, Order of Eastern Star and bowling league in Dublin.
Francis is a member of Antioch Dempsey Missionary Baptist Church of whom Reverend Prince Dawson is the pastor.
Her hobbies are reading the Bible, watching basketball on television and yard work. Her motto is “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you”.
After the parade, Pastor Stefan Brown will be the guest speaker at the old Dodge County Courthouse.
Pastor Brown is a native of Chester. He is the son of the late Linda A. Coley and the late David E. Smith and the late Eric Brown. He is the grandson of Mertha Brown, a retired educator of the Dodge County Board of Education.
Currently he serves as a law enforcement officer and church minister of 28 years, with five of those years as pastor of Springfield Baptist Church in Chester.
He is married to Virginia Austin Brown and they have been married for 29 years. They have four children, Danielle, Jasmine, Leah and Christopher.