Former Rosemont mayor's name coming off signs

Signs of the late Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens exist everywhere in the village he led for a half-century.

His name itself, though, will be removed from the village's gateway signs after a year of mourning his death.

Stephens, 79, died last April after suffering from stomach cancer.

Mayor Bradley Stephens, the late mayor's son, on Wednesday said he has asked that the nameplate featuring his father's name be taken off the signs marking entrance to the village. He has no plans to add his own name.

After a year of mourning, he says it's time, but acknowledges it was a difficult decision.

"It's not easy," Bradley Stephens said. "When someone says 'mayor,' I still look around."

Elected in 1956, Donald Stephens served as the only mayor of the suburb of 4,200 residents at the edge of O'Hare International Airport.

Stephens led the town's ascension to a hospitality and tourist powerhouse that owns its own arena, theater and convention center. Rosemont also boasts more hotel rooms than residents.

The village plans to host a memorial service remembering the anniversary of his death.

On the April 18 anniversary, a ceremony will be held at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, where he is buried.

A small church ceremony also was held last month to commemorate what would have been the late mayor's 80th birthday.

Last summer, the late mayor's mark on the town took an ethereal turn when residents began spotting his likeness in the bark of a tree outside the village's Willow Creek Club.

The tree is of special significance to the Stephens family since the mayor saved the tree twice when others suggested it be cut down.