Stephen DiLorenzo was chosen to be the Grand Marshal of this year’s Ulster County Volunteer Firemen’s Association and Parade Convention that is scheduled for July 27 and is being hosted by the Highland Hose Company #1.

DiLorenzo joined the department on October 21, 1969.

“I became a driver - operator shortly after that and after two years I became a Line Officer and then became a Captain. For the next thirteen years I was some form of an officer until I became Chief in 1987 through 1989.”

DiLorenzo married his wife Susan (nee Busch) in 1972 and they have two sons, Philip and Peter. Two grandsons Benjamin and Jack now round out the family.

In time DiLorenzo found himself working on many firematic and social committees for the fire company, became a Trustee and joined both the Ulster County Fire Chiefs Association and the Ulster County Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

In 1998 DiLorenzo ran and won his first five year term as a Fire Commissioner and today serves as their Chairman.

"I’m still very active and I’m still one of the Top Responders. I didn’t give up being a firefighter- driver operator and I still go to calls,” he said.

DiLorenzo said being involved in the fire department for all these years runs in his blood; his father was a Fire Commissioner in the 1970s and his father-in-law was a Commissioner in the 1970s and 1980s.

“It was kind of my path and I always wanted to stay involved in it,” he said. “I am going to stay as active as I can for as long as I can.”

DiLorenzo said being named the Grand Marshal by the Parade Committee is truly an honor. He said he stays in the department out of a desire to serve his community, “but there’s a certain amount of rush you get from it and I think the camaraderie is a big deal.”

DiLorenzo expects that in the parade he and his wife will ride together in a special vehicle in the front and will join the Master of Ceremony to acknowledge each fire department as they pass by the reviewing stand. After the last fire company processes by, they will then go out onto the town field for a special ceremony that will certainly bring attention to Highland’s 125 years of dedicated volunteer service to the community, starting in 1894 and unbroken through 2019.