Mr. Weeks helped build Mt. Prospect

No one knew the streets of Mount Prospect like Herbert Weeks.

That's because for 36 years, he paved and patched them in the summer and cleared snow from them in the winter. When Mr. Weeks retired in 1995, Mount Prospect named the maintenance building after him.

"He started out as a maintenance man in the water department in 1959," said his wife, Evelyn. "He loved it."

Mr. Weeks, 78, died Tuesday, at his Palatine home, where he still received the village newsletter.

Mr. Weeks was born in 1929 in the small town of Prairie Farm, Wis.

After serving in the Navy and Air Force, he moved to Mount Prospect for a job with the village's public works department in 1959.

In 1977, Mr. Weeks was appointed director of public works and served in this capacity until his retirement in 1995.

Mr. Weeks didn't boast about his accomplishments, but he was proud of them, according to his son-in-law, Larry Coffey.

"He would drive his granddaughters over and show them the building with his name on it," Coffey said.

Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael E. Janonis worked with Mr. Weeks as an assistant village manager from 1983 to 1989 and again from 1992 as village manager.

"He was an institution and a wealth of knowledge and a guy who believed in getting the job done and doing it correctly and really had the best interests of the village as his first and foremost commitment," Janonis said.

Besides being the husband of Evelyn Weeks; Mr. Weeks was the stepfather of Paul Meers and Patricia (Laurence) Coffey; step-grandfather of Michael, Matthew, Erin and Megan; brother of Inez Thompson and uncle of six.

Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. until his funeral service on Friday at Friedrichs Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road in Mount Prospect.

Services for Mr. Weeks will be at 11 a.m. Friday at All Saints Lutheran Church, 630 S. Quentin Road, Palatine. Interment will be in Wheeling Township Cemetery.