05/17/2026
Downtown Shenandoah, Inc. has announced the grand marshal for this year's Heritage Day parade, set to step off tomorrow morning at 10am.
Anne Chaikowsky La Voie Skirmantas will be honored posthumously.
She often marched with the Lithuanian contingent in the parade. She also launched the Lithuanian Museum here in town. She passed away earlier this year.
A 1975 Shenandoah Valley graduate, she went on to Syracuse University where she earned a Bachelor's degree in television and radio production and Master's in education counseling.
She moved to the Los Angeles Area where she:
• Supervised summer youth, employment, and training programs and organized incentive programs for at-risk teenagers with community leaders and merchants.
She taught the English language at the American English School (AMES) in Vilnius, Lithuanian
Back in the Heart of the Anthracite, she
• Actively participated in Downtown Shenandoah, Inc. and the Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society,
• Directed the newly moved Lithuanian Heritage Museum in Shenandoah
• Was inducted into the Shenandoah Valley School District Wall of Fame in June 2025.
• Assisted in establishing the Ponicsan Room in the Historic Society's museum.
• Wrote two books for the Arcadia Press' Images of America series: “Images of Shenandoah” for Downtown Shenandoah Inc., and “Lithuanians of Schuylkill County.”
• Co-authored St. George Church: A Photographic Remembrance and produced a DVD about the church.
• Established several scholarships for Shenandoah Valley High School graduating seniors through the Schuylkill Area Community Foundation.
