Mill Pond Park to be renamed for Cahill

Mill Pond Park will be called that no more. The village board has decided to rename the park after late Mayor Ed Cahill.

The park, located at the southeast corner of Sunrise Highway and Mill Road, will officially be renamed the Edward W. Cahill Memorial Park. Cahill died on July 30 while in office after serving as Valley Stream’s mayor for 11 years.

Mill Pond is one of the few parks in the village that had not named for someone. Arthur J. Hendrickson Park on Merrick Road is dedicated to one of the first village mayors. Julius E. Barrett Park at the south end of the village is named for a former trustee and Firemen’s Memorial Field in the east end is dedicated to firefighters.

The only other unnamed facilities are Arlington Park in the west end, and the Village Green adjacent to Village Hall. But Mill Pond Park made the most sense, noted Village Clerk Vinny Ang, as Cahill lived on Ivy Place — his home since 1964 — just five blocks away. “It’s close to his house,” Ang said, “and he used to walk over to that park all the time.”

The suggestion to rename the park actually came from a village resident, Pearl Mannion, who sent a letter to Acting Mayor Joanne Antun. Mannion said she got the idea after she heard the Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce was planning to dedicate a plaque to Cahill. “I thought he deserved more than that,” she said.

Antun brought the suggestion to the village trustees, and the board approved the park renaming at its October meeting. “Much to my surprise,” Mannion said, “I got a letter back saying that it was a wonderful idea and it was approved.”

The village will have new signs made up and Antun said a dedication ceremony will likely be held later this month. Cahill’s 83rd birthday would have been Nov. 27, so Antun is hoping to do the ceremony that day.

Mannion said that Cahill deserves the recognition for what he did as the village’s mayor. She noted that he worked to beautify the village, and even once helped her with a problem. When two trees were pulling up the sidewalks in front of her home, Mannion spoke to Cahill and within a week village crews were there to take down the trees and repair the sidewalks.

“Anybody could talk to him about any problem,” she said, “and if he could solve it, he would.”

Cahill’s widow, Mary Ann, noted that Cahill loved to go walking through the village every morning, and that he always passed by Mill Pond Park along his route. He did this every morning until he became sick. “Whenever I pass it now,” she said of the park, “I will think of him, the village he so loved, and those who chose to honor him this way.”