Naperville dedicates park, remembers soldier

On a picture-perfect fall morning, a group of Naperville residents celebrated the recently finished renovation of their neighborhood park Saturday and remembered a resident who practically grew up on its lawns.

The Naperville Park District hosted a ceremony to formally reopen Winding Creek Park at 144 W. Bailey Road. The park has gone through an $800,000 renovation that updated the playground, improved the parking lot and re-landscaped the ball fields, among other changes.

Also on Saturday, the park district honored U.S. Army Sgt. Jack Hennessy, a neighborhood resident who was killed in 2004 while on duty in Iraq.

Winding Creek Park was something of a second home to Hennessy, who spent much of his childhood on the soccer fields there, park board president Mike Reilly said on Saturday. A Forever Green Tree has been planted in the park in Hennessy's name.

"Sgt. Hennessy will always be known as a leader and a hero," Reilly said.

Hennessy, a Naperville Central High School alumnus, was deployed to Iraq in March of 2004. He was killed seven months later while monitoring a traffic checkpoint in Baghdad. He was 21 years old.

During Saturday's ceremony, Hennessy's father, Bernie, thanked the crowd for showing up to remember his son.

"He's just one of the many sons and daughters, husbands and fathers (who have fought for their country)," he said. "The important thing is that we remember their service."

After the ceremony, Hennessy's mother, Cindy, said the community of Naperville has been particularly cognizant of remembering residents killed while serving overseas.

"It's wonderful how people remember here," she said. "Jack would have been honored by all this attention. We have to stay aware of what our soldiers are going through."

The renovation of Winding Creek Park was funded in part by a grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The park dates back to the late 1970s, and many of its amenities had become outdated, said Eric Shutes, director of planning for the Naperville Park District.

The district updated the playground equipment, added asphalt trails, built new shelters and improved the main parking lot as part of the project.

Much of the work was done with an eye toward the health of the environment, Shutes said. The parking lot, for instance, was replaced with permeable pavers that do a better job filtering water before it enters local waterways, he said.

Reilly said the renovated park provides a place for residents to appreciate nature and enjoy safe play.

"It's an example of what people love about Naperville," he said.