Greg Dickson remembers a day in the late 90s when a swollen Fox River flooded a portion of Gregory Island Park, one of the Fox Valley Park District properties he oversaw as the agency’s new facility supervisor.
Dickson’s boss at the time, the FVPD’s landscape architect and planner, asked the young supervisor to post signs and alert residents of the water-logged park.
“I got the signs and stapled them to a bunch of trees,” Dickson recalls today with a cringe. “It was my first little run-in with Bill Donnell. That’s when I learned how deep his passion for trees and parks truly ran – especially the trees. I quickly learned that you don’t staple signs to Bill’s trees.”
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longtime executive at FVPD, Donnell also worked as superintendent of parks, and as director of parks and natural resources before his retirement in 2010 after nearly 27 years at the agency. Donnell has represented the city of Aurora’s Fourth Ward as alderman for the last 12 years, along with sitting on the Aurora Tree Board during that same timespan thanks to city officials creating an aldermanic position on the board due to Donnell’s advocacy and passion.
On Friday afternoon at Lincoln Park, the city, FVPD and Fox Valley Park Foundation co-hosted a “Tribute Tree Planting” in honor of the career and community service of Donnell, who’s retiring from his aldermanic post next month. Held in a park “near and dear to my heart” (and a block and a half from his house), the planting celebrated Donnell’s “leadership and advocacy for parks, green spaces, and community well-being, symbolizing his enduring impact on Aurora,” as stated on the city’s invitation to residents.
Officials and staff from both the city and FVPD, State Rep. Matt Hanson, along with many of Donnell’s family members and friends, gathered on the west side of Lincoln Park where a Swamp White Oak with a commemorative plaque at its base will forever stand in Donnell’s honor. Mayor Richard Irvin retroactively declared March 14 (Donnell’s birthday) as “Bill Donnell Day” in the city of Aurora. It marked a fitting Arbor Day celebration to one of Aurora’s greatest tree champions as the collective city thanked Donnell for his nearly 40 years of public service.
Transforming Lincoln Park
Donnell and wife Marge moved from Indiana and made Aurora their new home in 1984 when Bill took the Park District job. He remembers standing in Lincoln Park in 1987 when FVPD acquired the 20-acre park in a land swap with the city, which received property along South River Street that’s now home to Aurora Animal Care & Control.
“There was an expectation among constituents that the Park District was going to fix Lincoln Park up,” says Donnell. “We got a grant from the DNR and the city of Aurora gave us money for the sidewalk.
“It’s a community-level park and it was the first (FVPD) park to have an internal looped trail. I was questioned whether that was a good idea because we built the straight trails like the Gilman or Prairie Path. So, we built this half-mile loop, which has proven to be as popular as any element in the park. My kids learned to ride their bikes here.”
For context, FVPD owned and maintained 67 parks in 1987 compared to 170 in 2025. Today, following in Lincoln’s footsteps and largely due to Donnell’s vision, a total of 16 FVPD parks feature a paved pedestrian path, including eight that were added to parks that existed when Lincoln’s was poured 38 years ago. During the renovation to Lincoln Park – “once a quarry, ” says Donnell, “which explains the undulations in a prairie setting” – Donnell oversaw the design and construction of new park amenities in addition to the paved path, including the dog park and two basketball half-courts in the southern quadrant of the park near the fire station.
On Friday, a late-morning shower gave Donnell’s young Swamp White Oak a final drink before skies cleared just in time for the afternoon planting ceremony. When matured, the tree is striking with shade-producing, two-tone leaves that turn from dark green/silvery-white in the summer to an orange-gold in the fall, and ultimately yellow a bit later in the season.
“I’ve just always found it important to have trees in our world, in our community,” Donnell says. “I’ve always felt most comfortable with a walk in the woods.”
Made even better on an internal looped trail.
The Park District has several opportunities through the Fox Valley Park Foundation to leave a lasting legacy for friends or loved ones. For more information on commemorative tree plantings, visit foxvalleyparkfoundation.org.
