For the second time in three weeks, Arlington Heights is mourning the loss of one of its sons.News of Walter Payton's death Monday hit hard in the village where Sweetness lived for roughly seven years, from the late 1970s until the early 1980s.
Village trustees and Village President Arlene Mulder, who held a moment of silence for the Daily Herald's late vice chairman, Robert Y. Paddock Sr., on Oct. 18, held another Monday for Payton.
Those who knew Payton, those who watched him train on the landfill hill that is now Nickol Knoll Golf Course, those who just watched with wonder his prowess, all bowed their heads to mourn.
"It is with great sadness that our community pays tribute to a man who achieved such great success," Mulder said.
At St. Viator High School, where Payton's son, Jarrett, was graduated last year, what had been planned as an optional Tuesday morning Mass for All Souls Day became a memorial Mass for Payton.
"Obviously it takes on different significance now," school President the Rev. Thomas von Behren said Monday. "I suspect there will be many, many more people who will attend than might have originally."
School spokesman Joe Molloy was one of many to recall a Walter Payton story Monday.
Molloy remembered a pre-game pep speech Payton gave to the boys basketball team before a playoff game during the 1996-97 season. Payton talked and then sat behind the bench during the game.
"We didn't ask him to do any of that. He didn't just come in and give this rah-rah speech before the game, he really wanted to feel the emotion and spirit of the kids," Molloy said. "He was sincere.
"Getting to know him through his son, you weren't disappointed in anything you expected of him," he said. "He was really a good guy."
Trustee Tom Stengren recalled the day in the 1970s when he was driving down a street in the north side Ivy Hill neighborhood and spotted Payton working on his lawn.
"I stopped the car and said, 'Hi Walter, how's it going?' And I'll be darned if he didn't stop what he was doing, walk over to the car and chat as if we were old friends," Stengren said.
"You knew he was sick, but you never thought something would take him down," he said. "I think it's a tremendous loss for someone who was so visible in our community."
Trustee Dwight Walton's memory was more recent: A series of business meetings with Payton, in which the two discussed Payton's idea for an exhibit - "Walter Payton's NFL" - that would have traveled around to fairs and shows.
"He would sit at the conference table for a couple of minutes and then he'd be up and messing up your hair or punching you in the shoulder," Walton said.
Mulder remembered meeting Payton in 1979 at the dedication ceremony for Arlington Lakes Golf Course, where he hit the ceremonial first golf ball.
Mike Silverman, president and CEO of First Northwest Bank, had the earliest recollection of Payton.
Silverman was working for the Bears in 1975 when he first heard of a kid named Payton.
He remembered sitting in a room with Bears owner George "Papa Bear" Halas, Ed McCaskey and some attorneys when Halas said, tongue-in-cheek, "I just drafted a guy who will make you forget about Gayle Sayers."
Silverman and Payton became friends, and Payton was among the original investors in First Northwest. Sweetness was on the bank's board of directors and remained as active as possible until last year, Silverman said.
"I'm going to miss him," he said. "There'll be an empty spot."
