Village News

Valley Stream immortalizes Cahill

Mill Pond Park renamed for late mayor

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Valley Stream gave its late mayor, Ed Cahill, a special birthday present last Saturday. Mill Pond Park was officially renamed the Edward W. Cahill Memorial Park at the morning ceremony.

On what would have been Cahill’s 83rd birthday, about 200 village workers, elected officials, community leaders and residents came to see the unveiling of a new sign at Mill Road and Roosevelt Avenue. Cahill’s widow, Mary Ann, and resident Pearl Mannion pulled down the blue cloth to reveal the park’s new name. Mannion had written a letter to the village’s Board of Trustees suggesting the name change.

The auxiliary police closed off Roosevelt Avenue to accommodate the large crowd, which sang “Happy Birthday” to Cahill. He died at the end of July of complications of a brain tumor after serving as the village’s mayor for 11 years, the second-longest mayoral tenure in the village’s 85-year history.

Deputy Mayor Joanne Antun, who has been leading the village since Cahill’s death, spoke about how she will not use his desk, but instead sits at a work table on the other side of the office. The desk is reserved for the “chief” of the village, she said, which Cahill was.

Antun also spoke of how Cahill followed the golden rule of good government — he made decisions based on what was right, not what would win him votes. “Our Ed Cahill was a principled man,” she said.

Hempstead Town Councilman Jim Darcy said Cahill never sought the spotlight nor enjoyed being in it, and would probably hate an event dedicated to him. In thinking of how he would justify the renaming ceremony to his late friend, Darcy suggested that it could be a birthday present, but then noted that Cahill preferred to give gifts rather than receive them.

Maybe, Darcy said, he could justify the event by saying it is just as significant for those who are left behind. Cahill’s name on the sign can serve as a reminder to others to make Valley Stream the best place it can be, which, Darcy said, was Cahill’s goal as mayor.

Darcy spoke of the village’s long history of dedicating parts of its territory to those who have served it, including Firemen’s Field, Arthur J. Hendrickson Park and the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library.

Antun read statements on behalf of another one of Cahill’s good friends, Rabbi Yitzchak Goldshmid of the Chabad Outreach Center on Rockaway Avenue, and village Trustee Ed Fare. Goldshmid noted that Cahill was a leader who served the community with mind, heart and soul and was a man of strong faith.

Fare wrote that the renaming of the park will ensure that Cahill is remembered for many generations to come. “Ed cared for all of our residents and treated everyone with respect,” his statement read. “This park will forever serve us all as a reminder of his honesty, guidance and love for the people of the village that he loved.”

Maureen Weeden, who spoke on behalf of Mary Ann Cahill, recalled that the late mayor would always pass Mill Pond Park on his daily walk. “It is so fitting that he be remembered in this way,” Weeden said, “and at this place.”