PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. – Bike Peoria, the Trail Advocates, and the Peoria Park District honored the late William “Bill” Rutherford and unveiled a new memorial plaque for his contributions to the River City Saturday. The memorial is located on the Rock Island Trial along Alta Lane.
Rutherford was a Peoria native who had a passion for environmental projects and contributed to many including the Wildlife Prairie Park, Forest Park Nature Center, and Jubilee College State Park, and he also redeveloped the Rock Island State railroad/hiking trail [rail trail] stretching from Dunlap to Princeville in 1981.
Mike Rucker, chairman of Trail Advocates for Central Illinois/Bike Peoria told 25 News, the memorial took nearly six month to design.
“We went through Springdale Cemetery and said, ‘Do you have any spare stones, maybe three we can stack like this?’ Then we had a nice big glass plaque that we purchased,” said Rucker. “Once we had the stones, that was what the design was, and I think it came out very nicely.”
Rutherford passed away in 2006 at the age of 92 and was also a pilot working with the greater Peoria Airport Authority.
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