MILAN NM, -- On October 20, the Village of Milan renamed Metcalf park to McElroy park after Bill McElroy who worked for the Village of Milan as the Recreation Supervisor for 60 years until his retirement in 2020.
McElroy’s great-granddaughter Kylie Garcia and granddaughter Shawna Garcia were present to unveil the new name plaque to dedicate to him. Mayor Felix Gonzales said, “He did not big flashy expensive things, so the plaque needed to be just right to fit his tastes and honor his memory.” McElroy was said to be the go-to person for any work that was needed in the village and an overall hard worker.
McElroy’s granddaughter Shawna Garcia spoke about her grandfather, “My grandpa loved the Village of Milan, he took pride in working here every minute that he did. He loved the people he worked with. He was hard on people at times, but he only did that out of love, because everything he did, he did a hundred percent. He wanted to encourage everybody to be the best they could be.” She also said, “He went above and beyond in everything he did. I know that he loved you guys, it was an honor for him to be a part of this Village.” McElroy’s great-granddaughter Kylie Garcia also spoke about her grandfather, “Up until his last moment, he was saying ‘oh we need to call those workers and tell them they need to get to work.’ His pride and joy was his work and his love for the Village and his love for the families of Milan.”
Monica Sandoval who has also worked for the Village and worked along side McElroy also spoke about how they constructed the park, “When this park was made, I remember this playground equipment was at the swimming pool and it was always locked up. [Bill McElroy] and I used to look out the window and we always used to think that we could see kids going and say, ‘why are they locked up?’ We wanted these kids to go play, he used to sit there with his pencil hitting the desk all the time, saying ‘I’m going to go talk to her, I’m going to go tell her we need to put this park.’ He put his mind to it as usual and he made it up… he said ‘we got this land back here, this property, and we’re going to go ahead and make it a park.’ This is what he did.” She also talked about how they spoke about naming the park after him, “He always used to say we’re going to go to that park, and I said, ‘no that’s McElroy park!’ and he’d go ‘No, no it’s Sandoval park!’ which he meant after me… I used to say ‘One day Bill that park is going to be named McElroy park’ I said one day and today is the day. Thank you, Village of Milan, for honoring Bill McElroy today.”