Cookout serves up a small thank-you to emergency workers

A tradition quietly passed its fifth anniversary on Friday, when Oehler Funeral Home officials in Arlington Heights rolled out their annual cookout luncheon.

The guests of honor were the local first responders, including Arlington Heights police, fire, emergency medical technicians, and public works employees. Nearly 100 in all descended on the facility and its outdoor parking lot, as they have done every year since the first anniversary of Sept. 11.

"We were looking for a way to honor this day, in some small way," said Jim Murray, Oehler Funeral Home manager. "We tossed around the idea of just delivering a meal, but then someone suggested a cookout."

Officials never hold the event on Sept. 11, so as not to interfere with other public tributes and memorials. Consequently their gesture largely has gone unnoticed by the community. Which is what they intended, they say.

"It's just something we can do," Murray said, "to invite them over, just to say thanks."

They came in shifts, before, after and during the lunch hour. The fire department with their rigs and ambulances, the police department with their squad cars and motorcycles, as well as the public works crews with their trucks, surrounded the building, suggesting to the casual observer that there was an emergency.

The only emergency was the amount of food, including hamburgers, brats and hot dogs, and whether there was going to be enough, officials quipped.

Considering the business Oehler employees are in, they work closely with local police and fire department officials, to transport victims. Consequently, they already had a healthy respect for all that public servants do for village residents, but they wanted to underscore their admiration.

"You have to respect what they do," Murray said. "I watch them go off on calls, even in the middle of lunch, and it just gets you thinking about all that they do. You have to marvel at it."