Veterans Memorial Renamed in Honor of McCartan

In 20 years as a village board member, Edward “Doc” McCartan left his mark on Romeoville. Now, there will be a permanent reminder of the longtime resident, trustee and veteran.

The village’s Veterans Memorial, which will soon undergo remodeling, has been renamed in honor of McCartan, at age 85. Now known as the Edward “Doc” McCartan Veterans Memorial, it is located near the former site of village hall on Montrose Drive.

Mayor John Noak said plans to rechristen the memorial were in the works even before McCartan’s passing.

“I presented it to the board prior to his passing away,” Noak said. Trustees thought it would only be right to dedicate the memorial to McCartan, who served in three branches of the U.S. military—the Navy, the Marines and the Air Force—and was a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War.

“I thought it would be a fitting thing for his years of service, not only to the community but to the nation,” Noak said.

To his friends, it's a fitting tribute, but McCartan might not have seen it that way, according to his daughter, Pattie Holloway. The humble McCartan would have wanted someone else to have the honor, she said.

“He was tight with money,” especially when it came to spending village dollars, she said. “He would be the type to say, ‘Don’t spend money on me, do it on someone else.’”

Noak said the project, which will reconfigure the existing memorial to allow for more space for public events such as Veterans Day commemorations, is estimated to cost around $250,000, to be paid with tax increment financing (TIF) funding. The village is also considering adding a memorial wall to commemorate specific military actions in which Romeoville residents played a role, Noak said.

Holloway said she and her family, which includes five siblings and mother Ruth, McCartan's wife of more than 60 years, were surprised to learn of the tribute.

“It makes me feel good, because I live down the street from Montrose,” Holloway said. “I used to take walks by (the memorial) to admire it, and now it means more to me.”

 Holloway said her dad enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II before signing on with the Marine Corps.

“He started out as a Navy medic, and went into the Marines because the Marines didn’t have any medics,” she said. He continued his military career after his stint in the Marines, enlisting in the Air Force.

In addition to his legacy of service to both the village and the country, Holloway said her father left a bit of himself behind in his children.

“He was serious, but he also had a comical side,” she said. “We all have a little bit of that.”

Noak said designs for the new McCartan Veterans Memorial are being completed. Preliminary work on the site could begin as early as this spring.

“We’re still looking at construction (timelines),” he said.