Westborough – Westborough recently announced that veteran Andrew R. Toorock has been named grand marshal of the upcoming Memorial Day Parade Monday, May 30.
The U.S. Marine Corps 25th Regiment (Cold Steel Warriors) Honor Guard will march in the parade to honor Toorock.
The grand marshal was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1936 and recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He grew up in Brooklyn and Upper Darby, Pa., with his parents Meta and “Chief” Toorock and older sister Jane. He attended PS 138 then Midwood High School in Brooklyn. He was a three-sport athlete and played football, basketball and baseball during high school years. He was voted best athlete out of 4,000 students at his high school in 1954 and was subsequently invited to try out for the New York Yankees.
Toorock attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., where he entered the Marine platoon leader class and majored in history. He belonged to Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and received his commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation in 1958.
As a Marine officer he attended his basic training at Quantico and was assigned to Camp Lejeune where he was trained as a combat engineer. Following occupational training, he was stationed with the 3rd Marine Air Wing at El Toro in Santa Ana, Calif., and completed his time honorably as an engineer.
After his discharge, Toorock moved to Boston where he was employed by Carter Overton and the Rix Corporation as vice president of operations for 11 years. During this time, he met Gail, an American Airlines flight attendant. They have been married for 50 years, have three children, Laura, Mark and Lynn, and are now grandparents to three teenage girls.
Toorock later joined Fanny Farmer Candy as vice president of sales and marketing, and, after seven years there, joined Newport Sales as partner. He retired from this firm in 2000.
In 2004, the couple moved from Framingham to the Orchard Hill community in Westborough. Currently, Toorock plays golf at Framingham Country Club, volunteers for the Metrowest Harvest, supports Northeastern hockey, plays Tuesday night poker and dines with the Wednesday night “boys night out” group. He also serves local veterans through his involvement on the Westborough Veteran Advisory Board.
Photos/submitted
