Barbara McNally’s life forever changed the day her husband was shot with an assault rifle.
The bullets were fired quickly as James McNally was leaving his Bartlett home — and the stay-at-home dad was killed instantly. The family wasn’t prepared to pick up the pieces.
“We had to start over — I couldn’t even function in the beginning,” Barbara McNally said. “This new life was not the one we wanted, but we had to make the best of it.”
A permanent reminder
One year later, McNally and her three children joined with neighbors and longtime friends to dedicate a statue to their own family man.
The ceremony was held at Oak Grove Park Sunday, just around the corner from the family’s home in the Pond View subdivision. The family selected the park because of James McNally’s love of the water and the children’s fond memories of fishing at the lake with their father.
The statue the family selected is a bronze sculpture of a man and his three children. It is titled “The Family Man.”
“This was such a tragedy for us,” she said. “We didn’t have him buried because I’m not much of a cemetery person, and I wanted something positive for people to enjoy when they walked by.”After getting permission from the Bartlett Park District, Barbara McNally began to look for a statue to represent her husband.
“I found one with a picture of a boy with a sailboat, but the kids poo-pooed it,” she said.
Barbara McNally kept searching and finally came across the one that fit. But the statue was out of stock, and would take three to four months to arrive, months after the one-year anniversary of Jim’s death.
Soon fate stepped in when the salesman found a statue at the back of the warehouse — one that hadn’t made it into the computer inventory. Some claimed it a miracle, said James McNally’s cousin, Loann Poll.
“I can’t help but wonder who helped them find that statue,” Poll said. “It’s proof Jim is a part of this celebration.”
Remembering a loved one
Poll, along with Morgan McNally, spoke at the dedication, sharing stories about when her father saved her younger brother from choking and the time when he put out a small fire in the bathroom.
“Dad was more than just a person to us, he was a hero, as well,” Morgan said.
But the McNally family will always remember the day their hero was taken away.
James McNally had been driving away from his home in downtown Bartlett one afternoon last September when he was gunned down by a man in an oncoming vehicle. Police were able to track the van down to Jim Masino, a 43-year-old Arlington Heights man — who had been friends with McNally back in high school.
Masino was charged with the murder of his former friend and has pleaded not guilty in a Cook County Circuit Court, despite a videotaped confession, police said. Today Masino remains at an Elgin mental health center to undergo treatment, after he was determined unfit to stand trial.
Moving forward
In his book, “The Clinical Handbook of Psychiatry and the Law,” Paul Appelbaum, also a professor at Columbia University, said the factors that determine if a criminal defendant is competent to stand trial are complicated.
“They must understand the nature and purpose of court proceedings and have the ability to assist council in his own defense,” he said.
A psychologist will administer a series of questions to piece together whether they can comprehend the reality they are facing, and how well they will cooperate with an attorney, he said. A mental disorder may interfere with court proceedings. But most patients are able to eventually stand trial once they are given treatment, Appelbaum said.
Barbara McNally said the only days she thinks of Masino is when she attends his court dates, where it is determined whether he is capable to stand trial.
With no one there to fix things around the home or watch the children when she travels on business, McNally has struggled to adapt.
Knowing she doesn’t ask for help often, she asked for a favor — a wish her husband would have if he was there that day.
“He would like to ask you, the people of this town, to be my eyes and ears when I’m not around to help us raise our kids,” she said.
