At a cocktail party in Manhasset, Helen Halpin McCarney, the reigning Ms. Senior America, casually mentioned her ambition to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade representing senior women, and her neighbor Lou DiCerbo made it happen. John Dunleavy, chairman of the parade, phoned her to say she was in.

The first St. Patrick's Day Parade was in 1762 and it is remarkably unchanged 245 years later. Neither floats nor cars are permitted so McCarney decided she had better prepare to walk the distance. She had imagined a big banner promoting the Ms. Senior America Pageant until she was informed banners are not allowed either. "Although winning the Ms. Senior New York competition and then the national competition was a thrill" McCarney admitted, "marching in the parade was an even greater thrill."

Not a shy woman, Helen McCarney phoned the rectory of St. Patrick's Cathedral and suggested to Cardinal Egan that she might receive a blessing for herself and all senior women as she walked past him during the parade. "He chuckled," she said, "and remarked he was a senior too." When she contacted the parade chairman with the new development he cautioned she might lose her place alongside Miss America if she stopped for the blessing.

He was right. Finding herself stranded with no one around her after the blessing McCarney decided to ham it up. "I bent over like I was old and the crowd began to encourage me, so I did a little jig and started to perform and they loved it. And when I got to the next block, I could begin all over again!" McCarney voiced one regret following her solo adventure -- "There were no cameras rolling."