Jerry Janci will be the one running around frantically late Saturday afternoon getting everyone lined up in the right order for the annual Bruce Lions Club Christmas Parade.
Janci has overseen the parade for over a decade as Lions Club President and enjoys the anxiousness and joy that comes with parade day.
“I especially love seeing the kids get so excited to ride a float,” Janci said. “It’s a fun night.”
Janci, 72, has become a fixture with the parade despite only moving to Bruce 15 years ago.
He lived most of his life in his native Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Janci landed a job as a mail carrier with the United States Postal Service in Allentown, Pa.
“I loved everything about the job,” Janci said. “It provided me the opportunity to meet a lot of people and provide a much appreciated service.”
“I’ll never forget some of my elderly customers (on my route),” Janci said. “In some cases I would be the only person they would see every day. They were happy to be receiving a bill just for the interaction.”
Janci served as president of his local postal carrier union for many years and takes great pride in the men and women who perform those jobs.
“There are so many stories of tremendous acts of courage and service from postal carriers,” Janci said. “I had a fellow carrier who pulled a burning couch out of a house and saved the house. Carriers are all over every day, especially out in rural areas, doing great deeds that many never hear of.”
Janci retired from the Postal Service in June of 2000 after 32 years on the job, and he and his wife Margaret decided to move to Bruce to live the rest of their lives.
Their daughter Cindy had lived in Bruce for years, having moved here with her husband who was in the service at the time.
“We came down and visited Cindy often, and she always encouraged us to move down when we retired confident we would love it here,” Janci said.
During their many visits, Janci said they experienced Southern hospitality on numerous occasions and fell in love with the slower pace of life.
“The people here are just great,” Janci said. “When we go back to Pennsylvania, people there ask us about the culture shock of living in Mississippi. The culture shock to us is the traffic, honking horns and the rush up there. We enjoy Mississippi.”
The biggest adjustment for the family was the small town life and not having everything so easily accessible.
“Where we lived, everything you could need was within a few blocks of you,” Janci said. “Here, we have to travel to get some things, but we’ve gotten used to it by now.”
Another adjustment for Janci was finding something to occupy his time. When he wasn’t delivering mail in Pennsylvania, he was very active in the community and never without something to do.
“Margaret told me I was going to go crazy if I didn’t go find something to do here in Bruce,” he said. “I went over to the nursing home to visit Cindy (who worked as a nurse there at the time) and bumped into Johnny Reason. He invited me to come to the Bruce Lions Club.”
Janci has been a leader in the organization ever since, serving as president for more than 10 years.
The national organization dates back to 1917. The Bruce club was founded in 1957.
“We don’t do as much today as I’d like because we only have a few members, but we still provide some great services and impact the community,” Janci said.
The local club donates hundreds of used eye glasses each year that are recycled and provided to those in need. They also work to promote Diabetes awareness, contribute to several medical causes while supporting the Bruce Museum, Sawmill Festival and hosting the annual Christmas parade.
Janci also currently serves as regional vice president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), but on this week, it’s the Bruce Christmas Parade dominating most of his time.
“When the calls start coming in with entries for the parade, that’s a lot of fun for me,” Janci said.
Of all the entries, Janci said he is particularly fond of the award winning floats each year.
“I love the floats that are tied into the theme,” he said. “I appreciate the hard work of the people who give of their time to make the floats mean something and to really help the parade be something special.”
This year’s parade is Saturday, Dec. 5 at 4:30 p.m. For more information call Jerry Janci at 662-412-2029.
