GILBERT—Dennis “Denny” Pershern has always loved convertibles, and he has the same fondness for driving his classic 1967 Plymouth Sport Fury in the Gilbert Independence Day parade the past 50 years.
“I love a parade!” he said.
In 1969, Pershern bought a 1967 Plymouth convertible a week before he and Lezlie Autio got married. Asked what she thought of the purchase, his wife of 55 years said, “Well, I always wanted a convertible, so I was pretty excited about it. ” They bought it when it had fairly low mileage, and all these years later, it has 140,000 miles.
From a 2013 story—when Pershern was named grand marshal: “The car is a limited-edition Indianapolis pace car with just 33 of them made. Pershern was the second owner, buying the car in 1969 when he was 19, getting a loan for $1,395 from his cousin Johnny Paciotti at the First National Bank in Virginia and repaying the loan at $56 a month. ‘There isn’t much I haven’t repaired or rebuilt over the past 44 years and it’s been repainted from the original off-white to a very bold pumpkin. That was a boo-boo. I wanted harvest gold but got pumpkin, now it’s back to the original color.’”
Pershern was first asked to drive his convertible in the parade in 1972. “Back then it was only the morning parade with the VFW, Gilbert High School band, the mayor, a couple small floats, and lots and lots of little kiddies on their decorated bikes,” Pershern said. Their daughters Micky and Shari would spend days decorating their trikes and in later years their bikes with crepe paper. At the end of the parade Steve Kerzie would give everyone a 50-cent piece.”
Lezlie Pershern said, “We used to go for a lot of rides when it was our main car for many, many years,” she said. “I would take that big old tank shooting down the Main Street of Gilbert when he’d be deer hunting, and I’d go with my girlfriends.” Her husband said, “For many years that was the family car. So, we thought we wanted to keep it in good shape. That’s why we had the body redone because it was starting to rot as cars do.”
She said, “We would go all the way out to Bimbo’s (Bimbo’s Octagon at Side Lake) for pizza. We’d go to different car shows, but in recent years we don’t use it quite as much as we used to.” Dennis Pershern had a leg amputated below the knee five years ago, then two and a half years ago the same procedure on his other leg.
When the night parades started in 1972, somebody asked Pershern if he might drive in the parade. “I think it was Miss Gilbert that I first drove in our very first nighttime parade. They were all daytime parades before that. All the excitement in the city of Gilbert. You don’t see it any other time of year. Gilbert’s a big draw for people to come back home for the 4th of July. That’s the big weekend for Gilbert.”
Lezlie Pershern said, “Just seeing all the people the first time I rode with Denny, I was blown away by how many people are actually in town. I mean, it was 6 deep in front of the fire hall. I couldn’t believe it. People yell your name and you’d be looking in the crowd trying to find a face.” Denny Pershern talked about the many people he has driven in the parades—grand marshals, mayors, queens and more.
“My dad (Joe Pershern) was grand marshal and my Uncle Willie. Plus, I had Paul Wellstone in the car when he was running for Senate the very first time.
“We’ve lucked out on the weather. The worst time we had was when was when Julia Malnar was grand marshal. Then it started to rain, and I had to put the top up. We were just soaked. And in fact, I think they cancelled the parade that year because of the storm.” He noted that he drove Gilbert native Bernie Kukar as grand marshal when he was the chief referee for the Super Bowl when it was in New Orleans.
“And lots of mayors, and the Little Miss somebody or other. When Govie Olson was alive, it was either me or him with the mayor or the grand marshal. They’re always in the front of the parade.”
Lezlie Pershern said, “The decision this year was a tough one for him not to drive. But then when our nephew was so excited about it, we were really, really happy about that.” David Kishel, son of Pershern’s sister and brother-in-law, Marion “Tootsie” and John Kishel, did the honors.
Lezlie Pershern said of her husband, “Being a part of the Gilbert parade every year and even driving the little morning parade it was exciting for him even back then. He’s such a Gilbert boy at heart, that’ll never change. He’s orange and black all the way.”
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