The local Martin Luther King Committee has announced the king, queen and grand marshal for the Picayune parade to be held on Monday, Jan. 20.

The royalty for the parade are King Hunter King, a sophomore at Pearl River Central High School, and Queen Willie Mae James-Reynolds, who is retired from Stennis Space Center and married to Richard Reynolds.

Grand Marshal for the parade is Mark Thorman, a retired Navy chief petty officer and now a Naval Science instructor at Picayune Memorial High School.

King lives in Picayune with his mother LaTeki Jefferson and twin siblings. He is a member of the Central Attraction show choir at PRC. He has attended the University of Southern Mississippi’s show choir summer camp for three years and also participated in the Ruben Studdard Foundation summer camp for singers and musicians for three years.

King is a member of New Hebron Missionary Baptist Church where he has been a member of a choir since age 2, and plays the piano for the East Jerusalem Baptist Church.

James-Reynolds was born in Georgia and moved from Savannah, Ga., to Picayune in 1960. She and her husband have two children.She is a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church where she is treasurer of the Senior Mission, president of the Pastor Aide and a member of the Mass Choir. She was founder of the Pals for Progress, which provides scholarships totaling $800 each year.

She received a certificate of honor from President Barack and Michelle Obama on her 90th birthday and one from Picayune Mayor Ed Pinero.

Thorman said he had two primary influences in becoming an ROTC instructor after retiring from the Navy.

His first influence was a third grade teacher he had who was hard on him — he described himself as a “hand-full” in school — but fair and who offered him guidance. The second was his son who was in an ROTC program while in high school.

The parade will begin at Picayune City Hall with lineup at 8:30 a.m. and beginning at 9 a.m.It will travel south on Goodyear Boulevard to Main Street, go south on Main Street past the Criminal Justice Center, then right on Rosa Street to Beech Street and end at Rose of Sharon Church of God in Christ.

In the event of inclement weather, participants in the MLK Day activities should go directly to the church for the program. Call Ozie Turner at 601-798-3506 or Etta Scott at 601-347-1848 for free entry and for more information.