Fallen Naperville soldier to be honored at park dedication

As a child, Sgt. Jack Hennessy played endless games of tag, soccer and getting wet in the creek at Winding Creek Park near his Naperville home. Hennessy, a 2001 Naperville Central graduate, spent so much time at the park that neighbors petitioned the Naperville Park District to name the park after Hennessy, who was killed in action in 2004 in Baghdad.

On Sept. 25, park officials will dedicate the recently renovated park and honor Hennessy, whose life is commemorated by a Forever Green Tree that is planted in the park.

"We're honored to have Jack honored. We think it's wonderful," his mother Cindy Hennessy said Thursday. "It's a nice way to remember him because the hardest part of losing a loved one is that everyone else moves on, and you never forget."

The park district recently completed extensive work at Winding Creek Park, including the renovation of the playground and ball fields, installation of the district's first permeable paver parking lot, a new multiuse trail, a soccer field, a nature overlook, a picnic shelter and restoration of the pond and creek shorelines.

Last November, Hennessy neighbor Renata Gozdziak presented the park board with a petition with more than 800 signatures requesting the name be changed to honor Hennessy.

Hennessy was deployed to Iraq in March 2004. That October, he was killed while monitoring a traffic checkpoint in Baghdad. He was 21.

When he died, friends and family described Hennessy as outgoing, energetic and mischievous with a good sense of humor. In November Gozdziak told the park board they shouldn't worry about setting a precedent if they rename the park after the soldier because "not every neighborhood has a hero like Jack Hennessy."

The park district typically gives its parks geographical or historical names.

Winding Creek Park neighbors will join representatives and elected officials at 10 a.m. Sept. 25 at the park.

The district is asking that those who would like to attend the event please RSVP to rsvp@napervilleparks.org or call (630) 848-3572.