Not so long ago, Lillian Kahan would’ve been an oddity.

She’s 104 years old (“104 and a half,” she corrects), and, until recently, a life of such length was a statistical quirk, rare enough to warrant news coverage or scientific research or at least a cupcake at the local senior center.

These days that’s only half true. Kahan’s age still makes news, and scientists increasingly are interested in people like her. She still gets the odd cupcake.

But the attention isn’t coming because she’s so uncommon. It’s because she’s not.

In fact, being a Kahan – living to 100 and beyond – might be a glimpse of the future.

“Being this old is fun,” Kahan said. “I recommend it.”

Welcome to Ageville

The number of centenarians worldwide has more than doubled over the past 25 years and demographers at the United Nations project that the 100-something crowd will quadruple by mid-century. Today, the biggest centenarian populations are in Japan (146,000) and the United States (108,000). But, soon, countries like China and India, where the overall populations are huge but the aging curve is only now starting to trend upward, will have even bigger 100-something age bubbles. By 2054, nearly 4 million people around the world will be 100 or older.

The trend is expected to be even more pronounced locally. The state projects that from now until 2050, the ranks of centenarians will jump more than fivefold in each of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Of course, centenarians are just the tip of a bigger demographic spear.

Populations are aging up in most advanced economies, at a rate never before seen in human history. In many countries, older people already outnumber children or they’re expected to in the near future. Aging demographics are reshaping everything from retirement plans and immigration patterns to diaper sales and popular ideals about beauty.

Like many aspects of the aging boom, the rise of centenarians is a mixed bag.

For example, it’s unambiguously good that lifestyle changes and cancer prevention and medical sciences have all improved enough to make it possible for so many people to live so long and, often, so well.

“Every centenarian I’ve met is exceptional,” said Stacy Andersen, who, as co-director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University, has met a lot of centenarians.

“These people have delayed chronic, age-related diseases. That’s the baseline. But many also continue to live vibrant lives, to stay engaged in their community and with their families,” she added. “It’s a wonderful view of what aging can be.”

It’s also unambiguously great that younger relatives and friends – everybody under 100, really – can, if they listen, pick up some life hacks that come with living 100 or more years.

“I still love waking up,” said Kahan, her New York accent still thick after six-plus decades in Mission Viejo and other parts of Southern California.

“You should try to do that. It’s pretty important.”

But good things often come with a cost, and the rise of centenarians presents some huge challenges.

Money, health, family hassles; the same issues that plague younger people don’t go away when someone turns 100. But the ability to leap over those hurdles – or, perhaps, to worry about them at all – drops considerably when you become a centenarian.

“I don’t necessarily want to make it to 100,” said Margo Carle, an ombudsman with the Council on Aging Southern California who works as an independent advocate for older people who live in nursing homes and other facilities.

“I see too much of how it can be,” Carle said.

“If you don’t have money, being 100 can be … Well, it’s not always pretty.”

Stresses for all

For Kahan and her 100-something cohorts, the cost of living isn’t cheap.

Though studies show centenarians generally are more physically robust than other older people, age is still age. About half of the 100-something crowd in the United States has some form of dementia, and most of those people need full-time care.

And even among those with little or no cognitive decline, only a small fraction can live on their own without someone – paid or otherwise – checking in every day to help them.

“My sons are all teachers. And they’ve arranged their schedules, they rotate, so they can stay with me,” said Rudolph Marcus, a 101-year-old chemist and former Caltech professor who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1992.

“That helps me continue with my work,” Marcus said. “I still think about my work every day, to be honest. Some problems I can still solve, some I can’t.

“But I could not do any of that without their help.”

Marcus, who won the Nobel for his work on how electrons jump from atom to atom (something that affects the functionality of solar panels and electric cars, among other things), is an outlier. He lives in the same Pasadena house he shared with his late wife, Laura, who died in 2003. Most people his age live in some kind of congregate setting, which in Southern California can run $5,000 to $15,000 a month.

Given that many newly minted centenarians have outlived their retirement savings, or didn’t have much to begin with, the cost of that care often falls to families and the government.

Soon, half of that equation might change.

A proposal being debated in Congress this month could include big cuts to Medicaid, the federal program that helps pay the costs of long-term care for, among others, centenarians. Those cuts, if passed, could result in lower-quality care or, in some cases, displacement. Other proposed Medicaid adjustments could reduce compensation for in-home care, making it tough for centenarians to live without family help.

For families who don’t want to hire out, or who can’t, the costs of centenarian care can run deeper than money.

Unlike younger retirees, whose adult children typically are young enough to still be working, the children of centenarians often are aged themselves – typically in their 70s or 80s. For them, providing care for an aging parent can be devastating, financially and otherwise.

“In many of the cultures that are common in Los Angeles, it’s an honor to care for your aging relatives,” said Heather Cooper Ortner, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, a nonprofit that helps provide services to people and families battling dementia.

“So it isn’t about people being unwilling to do this, or seeing it as a burden. That’s not always the case,” she said.

“But caring for older people can present an incredible level of stress for family caregivers,” Cooper Ortner added. Food, medical questions and appointments, bathing, bathroom help, fall prevention – caring for a centenarian is, literally, a full-time job. For a child in her 80s, it can be too much.

“It’s not uncommon to see a caregiver pass away before the person they’re caring for,” Cooper Ortner said.

“It’s a very complicated dynamic.”

Survive, delay, escape

The first public service messages warning Americans that smoking causes cancer started airing on television in 1967. A few years later, jogging became a national craze and, over the next two decades, about 25 million Americans started going for a run as a regular part of their lives. Less red meat. More sunblock. Meditation. All of it means one thing:

If you’re on deck to turn 100 this year, you’ve spent about half your life in a world where the phrase “healthy lifestyle” wasn’t a punchline.

It’s one reason, though not the biggest, that explains why so many people are living so long. People who study centenarians – and there are hundreds of aging experts looking into the topic in the United States, Japan and Europe – say genetics and the sheer power of population numbers are even bigger factors.

“At the turn of the last century, life expectancy was about 50. But a lot of things – cleaner water, prevention of infant deaths, antibiotics – made it so a lot more people made it into adulthood. That just means there are a lot more people who are going to have the opportunity to hit 100,” said Andersen, of the New England Centenarian Study.

But at least one projection suggests population numbers alone are only part of the broader trend. Even as more people, overall, hit 100, the ratio of people who reach that age is skyrocketing. According to United Nations data, Japan currently has about 12 centenarians for every 10,000 residents (the ratio in the U.S. is about 3 in 10,000). By 2050, the ratio in Japan will be about 40 out of every 10,000, and in the U.S., it’ll be about 14 out of 10,000.

“Having good, healthy habits can get you about 10 years longer. And it definitely makes those years better, which is important,” Andersen said. “But it doesn’t necessarily get you to 100.”

Genes might.

Andersen said there is no single “centenarian gene.” Instead, researchers have identified about 200 different genes to date that do age-related things like reduce inflammation and boost immune systems. People who have certain combinations of those genes have significantly better odds of making it to 100.

“We’re still trying to understand the relationships between protective genes,” Andersen said. “But it’s more about genetics than we once believed. And we’re learning more about that all the time.”

The New England Centenarian Study, which started in 1994, has tracked the lives of more than 1,800 centenarians, including 123 so-called “supercentenarians,” meaning people who made it to 110 or older. It’s also looked at more than 600 of their children, and more than 400 so-called “controlled” subjects, (usually spouses and relatives of spouses), as a way to identify the balance between genetics, lifestyle and other factors when it comes to cracking 100.

They’ve learned, so far, that so-called “exceptional longevity” – meaning the likelihood of making it to 100 — runs in families. They’ve also learned that many people who tend to live so long hit age-related illnesses later in life, and that they often compress their debilitations into shorter windows.

“Centenarians spend about 10% of their lives with a chronic illness. Others spend about 20% of their lives in that kind of situation, on average,” Andersen said.

The study has identified three basic types of centenarians. About 4 in 10 (43%) are “delayers,” meaning they didn’t experience age-related diseases, like dementia, until age 80 or later. Another 4 in 10 (42%) are “survivors,” meaning they made it to 100 even though they’ve been battling some kind of disease since before their 80th birthday. And about 1 in 7 (15%) are “escapers,” or people who, even at 100, don’t have any age-related disease.

Marcus, the chemist from Caltech, is probably an escaper.

“I don’t play tennis anymore. And I don’t ski. My sight doesn’t really allow it. But otherwise I feel pretty much the same,” he said.

When asked if he’s still learning about himself, at age 101, or if he’s got any advice to someone hoping to live well at his age, Marcus said yes and demurred.

“I’m learning every day. I try to live in the moment. I’d like to think I don’t live in the past and I never thought too much about the future, even when I was younger. And I definitely don’t do it now, at my age,” Marcus said, laughing.

“But I wouldn’t know if that’s what other people should or shouldn’t do,” he added. “It’s just the way I’ve always been.”

Kahan is probably a delayer. She doesn’t have dementia, but she said she battles health issues she declined to offer in detail.

She did offer one tip.

“Every day. I watch some TV, I talk with my friend. I enjoy my day,” Kahan said.

“But time passes very quickly,” she added. “Even at my age, it doesn’t slow down. And I think that means something.”

Anyone interested in participating in the New England Centenarian Study can call 888-333-6327 or email agewell@bu.edu.

Related Articles

Planned Parenthood to close 4 clinics in Minnesota, another 4 in Iowa

Publix recalls baby food pouches after testing finds elevated levels of lead

Weight-loss drugs may lower cancer risk in people with diabetes, a study suggests

RFK Jr.’s MAHA report raises concerns about vaccines, American foods and prescription drugs

FDA panel is split on updates to COVID shots as questions loom for fall vaccinations

By Robbie Sequeira, Stateline.org

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order aiming to reinstate “common sense” school discipline, more states may follow and expand the authority of teachers and school officials to deal with disruptive students.

Related Articles

Rapidly expanding school voucher programs pinch state budgets

South Africa police minister says Trump ‘twisted’ facts to push baseless genocide claims

White House conducting massive overhaul of National Security Council, officials say

Pentagon lost contact with Army helicopter on flight that caused jets to nix landings at DC airport

Privacy and hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipients

The order, signed in April, repeals prior federal guidance that encouraged schools to address racial disparities in discipline, arguing that such policies promoted “discriminatory equity ideology” and compromised school safety by pressuring administrators to underreport serious student misconduct.

In some states, new legislation already is trending toward giving teachers more authority to address student misbehavior.

In West Virginia, for example, a new law creates a structured process for responding to violent, threatening or disruptive behavior among students in grades K-6.

Under the law, a student exhibiting such behavior can be immediately removed from class, evaluated by counselors or behavioral specialists and placed on an individualized behavior plan. If there’s no improvement after two rounds of intervention, the student could be moved into a behavioral intervention program or an alternative learning environment.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, and supporters say the law empowers teachers to maintain safe classrooms.

“This legislation provides teachers with the tools to regain control of the classroom and ensure safe learning environments for our kids,” Morrisey said at the bill’s signing.

In April, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill referred to as the “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” with a bipartisan vote of 124-20.

That bill, now sitting in the Senate’s education committee, would significantly expand the grounds for out-of-school suspensions, allowing students to be suspended for repeated disruptions or threats beginning in third grade. It would reverse earlier changes that limited suspensions for younger students. It also would mandate that students making terroristic threats or assaulting school employees be placed in alternative education programs for at least 30 days.

Texas civil rights groups argue that the bill would impose a one-size-fits-all punitive approach, rather than addressing students’ developmental and behavioral needs.

Alycia Castillo, associate director of policy at the Texas Civil Rights Project and a former teacher, said state lawmakers are taking the wrong approach by mandating sweeping discipline policies for a state as diverse as Texas.

During the 2020-21 school year, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Education, Black students faced the highest rates of disciplinary action across all categories — suspension and expulsion — among all racial and ethnic groups.

They were 39% more likely than white students to receive in-school suspensions, 70% more likely to face out-of-school suspensions, and 71% more likely to be expelled.

The disparities were even starker for Black students with disabilities, who experienced suspension and expulsion rates far exceeding those of both their white peers and non-disabled students.

Reviving old, harsh disciplinary policies risks disproportionately harming students of color, students with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds, Castillo said.

“What works in Austin may not work in West Texas,” Castillo said.

“Children are naturally disruptive — that’s part of their development,” she added. “Excluding them only harms their growth into functional adults.”

Restorative justice models

In recent years, some other states have passed laws promoting restorative practices in schools, in which students and teachers work through problems and focus on repairing the harm caused by disruptions or conflict.

Michigan’s 2017 law requires schools to consider restorative approaches before suspensions or expulsions, aiming to repair harm rather than exclude students. Nevada began mandating restorative justice approaches in 2019, but scaled back that approach in 2023.

This year, Maryland passed a law requiring the state to establish “restorative practices schools,” specific schools with trained educators who use the approach in everyday discipline.

Kimberly Hellerich, an assistant professor at Sacred Heart University and a former K-12 teacher, said discipline policies should go beyond punitive measures to foster accountability and community healing.

“Adding restorative practices to accompany codes of conduct can allow students to recognize the impact of their actions on themselves, peers, the teacher, the class and the school community,” Hellerich said.

In her own classrooms, Hellerich used what she called “community circles” to guide students in processing behavior, offering apologies and rebuilding trust. “The apology served as a way to restore the student’s relationship with the entire class community,” she said.

Calls for a cultural shift on expectations

While lawmakers debate discipline procedures, other education advocates warn that an even deeper issue is unfolding inside classrooms: the gradual erosion of behavioral expectations and academic rigor.

Jessica Bartnick, co-founder and CEO of the Dallas-based mentorship program Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E., said that declining school discipline and lowered standards are quietly undermining educational outcomes.

“Discipline is the backbone of effective learning,” Bartnick, who supports the Texas legislation, told Stateline in an email. “Without it, classrooms become chaotic, instructional time is lost and teachers are forced to shift their focus from instruction to behavior management.”

Bartnick said efforts to promote equity sometimes inadvertently lower behavioral standards and deprive teachers of the tools they need to maintain safe learning environments.

She also criticized lenient grading policies and unlimited test retakes, arguing that they diminish the value of preparation, responsibility and resilience.

“If students are shielded from the discomfort of failure, they are also shielded from the growth that comes with it,” she wrote. “If we want to prepare students for a world that will not offer endless second chances, we must return to a classroom culture grounded in discipline, responsibility, and rigor.”

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández contributed to this report. Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Kevin Hardy, Stateline.org

In submitting her updated budget proposal in March, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs lamented the rising costs of the state’s school vouchers program that directs public dollars to pay private school tuition.

Characterizing vouchers as an “entitlement program,” Hobbs said the state could spend more than $1 billion subsidizing private education in the upcoming fiscal year. The Democratic governor said those expenses could crowd out other budget priorities, including disability programs and pay raises for firefighters and state troopers.

It’s a dilemma that some budget experts fear will become more common nationwide as the costs of school choice measures mount across the states, reaching billions of dollars each year.

“School vouchers are increasingly eating up state budgets in a way that I don’t think is sustainable long term,” said Whitney Tucker, director of state fiscal policy research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank that advocates for left-leaning tax policies.

Vouchers and scholarship programs, which use taxpayer money to cover private school tuition, are part of the wider school choice movement that also includes charter schools and other alternatives to public schools.

Opponents have long warned about vouchers draining resources from public education as students move from public schools to private ones. But research into several programs has shown many voucher recipients already were enrolled in private schools. That means universal vouchers could drive up costs by creating two parallel education systems — both funded by taxpayers.

In Arizona, state officials reported most private school students receiving vouchers in the first two years of the expanded program were not previously enrolled in public schools. In fiscal year 2024, more than half the state’s 75,000 voucher recipients were previously enrolled in private schools or were being homeschooled.

“Vouchers don’t shift costs — they add costs,” Joshua Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University who studies the issue, recently told Stateline. “Most voucher recipients were already in private schools, meaning states are paying for education they previously didn’t have to fund.”

Voucher proponents, though, say those figures can be misleading. Arizona, like other states with recent expansions, previously had more modest voucher programs. So some kids who were already enrolled in private schools could have already been receiving state subsidies.

In addition to increasing competition, supporters say the programs can actually save taxpayer dollars by delivering education at a lower overall cost than traditional public schools.

One thing is certain: With a record number of students receiving subsidies to attend private schools, vouchers are quickly creating budget concerns for some state leaders.

The rising costs of school choice measures come after years of deep cuts to income taxes in many states, leaving them with less money to spend. An end of pandemic-era aid and potential looming cuts to federal support also have created widespread uncertainty about state budgets.

“We’re seeing a number of things that are creating a sort of perfect storm from a fiscal perspective in the states,” said Tucker, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Last year, Arizona leaders waded through an estimated $1.3 billion budget shortfall. Budget experts said the voucher program was responsible for hundreds of millions of that deficit.

A new universal voucher program in Texas is expected to cost $1 billion over its next two-year budget cycle — a figure that could balloon to nearly $5 billion by 2030, according to a legislative fiscal note.

Earlier this year, Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill expanding the state’s voucher program. But last week, he acknowledged his own “substantial concerns” about the state’s ability to fund vouchers and its public education obligations under the constitution.

“I think the legislature’s got a very tall task to understand how they’re going to be able to fund all of these things,” he said in an interview with WyoFile.

Voucher proponents, who have been active at the state level for years, are gaining new momentum with support from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

In January, Trump ordered federal agencies to allow states, tribes and military families to access federal money for private K-12 education through education savings accounts, voucher programs or tax credits.

Last week, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of making$20 billion available over the next four years for a federal school voucher program. Part of broader work on a bill to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, the measure would need a simple majority in the House and the Senate to pass.

Martin Lueken, the director of the Fiscal Research and Education Center at EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice measures, argues school choice measures can actually deliver savings to taxpayers.

Lueken said vouchers are not to blame for state budget woes. He said public school systems for years have increased spending faster than inflation. And he noted that school choice measures make up a small share of overall state spending — nationally about 0.3% of total state expenditures in states with school choice, he said.

“Public schooling remains one of the largest line items in state budgets,” he said in an interview. “They are still the dominant provider of K-12 education, and certainly looking at the education pie, they still receive the lion’s share.

“It’s not a choice problem. I would say that it’s a problem with the status quo and the public school system,” he said.

Related Articles

Hill-Murray School breaks ground on $5.5M student union

Belgian princess left in doubt about her Harvard future following Trump’s foreign student ban

China criticizes US ban on Harvard’s international students

Trump administration says Columbia violated civil rights of Jewish students

Federal judge blocks Trump administration from barring foreign student enrollment at Harvard

Washington, D.C., and 35 states offer some school choice programs, according to EdChoice. That includes 18 states with voucher programs so expansive that virtually all students can participate regardless of income.

But Lueken said framing vouchers as a new entitlement program is misleading. That’s because all students, even the wealthiest, have always been entitled to a public education — whether they’ve chosen to attend free public schools or private ones that charge tuition.

“At the end of the day, the thing that matters most above dollars are students and families,” he said. “Research is clear that competition works. Public schools have responded in very positive ways when they are faced with increased competitive pressure from choice programs.”

Public school advocates say funding both private and public schools is untenable.

In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are considering a major voucher expansion that would alter the funding structure for vouchers, potentially putting more strain on the state’s general fund.

The state spent about $629 million on its four voucher programs during the 2024-2025 school year, according to the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials, which represents employees in school district finance, human resources and leadership.

The association warns proposed legislation could exacerbate problems with the “unaffordable parallel school systems” in place now by shifting more private schooling costs from parents of those students to state taxpayers at large.

Such expansion “could create the conditions for even greater funding challenges for Wisconsin’s traditional public schools and the state budget as a whole,” the association’s research director wrote in a paper on the issue.

In Arizona, Hobbs originally sought to eliminate the universal voucher program — a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled legislature. She has since proposed shrinking the program by placing income limits that would disqualify the state’s wealthiest families.

That idea also faced Republican opposition.

Legislators are now pushing to enshrine access to vouchers in the state constitution.

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, the state’s 20,000-member teachers union, noted that vouchers and public education funds are both sourced from the general fund.

“So it almost immediately started to impact public services,” she said of the universal voucher program.

While the union says vouchers have led to cutbacks of important resources such as counselors in public schools, Garcia said the sweeping program also affects the state’s ability to fund other services like housing, transportation and health care.

“Every budget cycle becomes where can we cut in order to essentially feed this out-of-control program?” she said.

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Memorial Day is Monday, May 26, and there will be a number of events across the Twin Cities metro area over the weekend and on Monday to honor and mourn those who died while serving in the military.

The holiday is observed on the last Monday of May. Since it is a federal and state holiday, many offices will be closed. Most grocery stores, pharmacies and other businesses are open, however.

Ramsey County

St. Paul: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Historic Fort Snelling will host an event focused on military history at the site. The fort will be open for people to explore at their own pace and special events are planned including a flag ceremony, cannon firing, swing band performances, a period speech from World War II as well as a performance by the Fife & Drum Corps. Visitors also can witness the firing of historic rifles from five different eras of the fort’s history. The Brooklyn Big Band will be performing at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. inside the fort. Veterans receive free admission to Historic Fort Snelling. Active military personnel and their families receive free admission through the Blue Star program from Armed Forces Day to Labor Day. For more information, go to the Minnesota Historical Society’s website.

The famous Round Tower at the Historic Fort Snelling on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

St. Paul: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day event at Oakland Cemetery, 927 Jackson St. Guest speakers will be Katie Schafer and local historian Mary Benton-Hummel. Refreshments will be available.

St. Paul: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day Mass will be held at Calvary Cemetery. For more information, go to catholic-cemeteries.org/memorial-day-2025.

St. Paul: 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. An event titled “From Civilian to Soldier: A Decoration Day Remembrance” will be held at Waldmann Brewery, at 445 N. Smith Ave. It will feature a concert and reenactment of scenes from the history of the brewery, including mustering in of its stonemason-builder Jacob Amos, with the assistance of Fifth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry reenactors alongside music from the Civil War era by Century Brass. The event will finish with a reading from the 1868 proclamation that established Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day. Admission is free. Waldmann beer, soda and food will be available for purchase. Seating is outdoors, so dress for the weather.

St. Paul: 3 to 4:30 p.m. Monday. Ceremony honoring Vietnam War deaths at the Minnesota Vietnam Memorial on the state Capitol grounds.

North St. Paul: 9 a.m. Monday. The American Legion Post 39 Honor Guard and VFW Post 1350 Rifle Squad will honor veterans during a ceremony at St. Mary’s Cemetery.

North St. Paul: Noon Monday. The American Legion Post 39 Honor Guard and VFW Post 1350 Rifle Squad will honor veterans during a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park at 2480 Margaret St. N. Following the appearance at Veterans Park, the Post 39 Honor Guard will head back to the Legion, where they will raise the Post’s flag and play taps at 12:20 p.m. At 2:15 p.m., they will appear at the Fleet Farm in Oakdale for the final ceremony of the day.

Roseville: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day service planned at the Roselawn Cemetery Veterans Memorial. The annual Roselawn Heritage Foundation Picnic Lunch — hot dog, chips, cookie, pop or water — will be offered for $5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend.

White Bear Lake: 9 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day Parade. The parade forms at City Hall at 9 a.m. and then marches to Union Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. A ceremony will be held at the cemetery at 10 a.m. The ceremony will include White Bear Lake’s own retired Gen. Paul Nakasone as keynote speaker as well as a thank you to Vietnam veterans on the 50th anniversary of the end of that war. There also will be a memorialization of Maj. Curtis Feistner, a White Bear Lake High School graduate killed in support of the war on terrorism in 2002. After the ceremony, Manny Laureano, principal trumpeter for the Minnesota Orchestra, will perform a traditional military/law enforcement funeral song, “Danny Boy” and taps. The ceremony will be followed by a parade down Lake Avenue to American Legion Post 168 at 2210 Third St. where there will be a free hot dog and refreshment lunch.

Dakota County

Burnsville: 9:30 to 11 a.m. Monday. Observe Memorial Day with the Sweet Sioux Garden Club at Bicentennial Garden, at 3400 Nicollet Avenue. In the event of rain, the event will be held at City Hall.

Eagan: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday. The annual Memorial Day Challenge fitness workout returns to the Viking Lakes campus for its 2025 edition — at the Community Plaza of TCO Stadium. More information can be found at memorialdaychallenge.com.

Hastings: 7 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day March. Beginning at 7:30 a.m. at Levee Park in Hastings and proceeding for 10 miles along the River Trail Loop. This year, the keynote speaker will be Drew Carpenter, a veteran of the U.S. Army and active participant with the Wounded Warrior Project. For more information, go to marchforthem.org.

Mendota Heights: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day Mass will be held at Resurrection Cemetery. For more information, go to catholic-cemeteries.org/memorial-day-2025.

Rosemount: 11 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day event at Central Park at 2893 145th St. W. Local officials and representatives from the Rosemount Legion and Rosemount VFW will join to honor the fallen soldiers of Rosemount in a ceremony. Following the ceremony, a free lunch will be served at the Rosemount American Legion at 14590 Burma Ave. W. For more information, go to rosemountmn.gov.

South St. Paul: 9:30 a.m. Monday. A Memorial Day parade begins at 9:30 a.m. at Fourth Street North and 12th Avenue and will proceed to the South St. Paul High School Auditorium. All are welcome to attend the Memorial Day program with performances by the South St. Paul Varsity Singers and the South St. Paul High School Band. Following the program, the South St. Paul Lions Club will host a hot dog picnic at the high school. For more information, go to southstpaul.org/Calendar.

Washington County

Bayport: 8:30 a.m. Monday. The Bayport American Legion Memorial Day Parade will begin on Minnesota Highway 95, between Central Avenue and First Avenue North, and proceed through the city to Hazelwood Cemetery.

Mahtomedi: 9 a.m. Monday. The 2025 Memorial Day Parade will begin in the staging area at Mahtomedi High School and then go down Stillwater Road (CSAH 12), to Veterans Memorial Park. A ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m. followed by a pancake breakfast at the fire station.

Mahtomedi: 10 a.m. Monday. The American Legion Post 39 Honor Guard and VFW Post 1350 Rifle Squad will honor veterans during a ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery.

Mahtomedi: 11 a.m. Monday. The American Legion Post 39 Honor Guard and VFW Post 1350 Rifle Squad will honor veterans during a ceremony at Evergreen Memorial Gardens.

Stillwater: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday. A Memorial Day ceremony will take place at the Stillwater Veterans Memorial at Third & Pine streets. More information at stillwaterveteransmemorial.org.

Woodbury: 11 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day ceremony will take place at the Woodbury Lions Veterans Memorial on the City Hall campus, 8301 Valley Creek Road. The event will include remarks from Mayor Anne Burt. Maj. Tyler Kistner of the U.S. Marine Corps will give the Memorial Day address. There also will be displays and veteran help groups in the east parking lot near the memorial. They will be staffed from 9 to 11 a.m. and from noon to 1:30 p.m. The observance will take place rain or shine. For more information, go to woodburymn.gov.

Hennepin County

Related Articles

West Seventh garbage truck depot wins City Council’s OK

In 17th year, Rick’s Bike Sale surpasses $600K in donations for Dakota County nonprofits

Two St. Paul parks renamed to reflect their sacred Dakota history

George Floyd: Minneapolis, St. Paul events mark his death, community response

Burnsville to break ground on nearly $100M Police City Hall renovation project

Minneapolis: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day Mass will be held at St. Mary’s Cemetery. For more information, go to catholic-cemeteries.org/memorial-day-2025.

New Hope: 10 a.m. Monday. Memorial Day Mass will be held at Gethsemane Cemetery. For more information, go to catholic-cemeteries.org/memorial-day-2025.

Radio

WCTS: 10 a.m. Monday. WCTS Radio will broadcast a locally produced Memorial Day service featuring patriotic music, religious and historic readings as well as President Ronald Reagan’s remarks at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 1986. The voices and stories of veterans of war will also be a part of the service, courtesy of the AMPERS network. An encore will air at 5 p.m. WCTS Radio is at 1030 AM, 97.9 FM and streaming at WCTSRadio.com.