It was only fitting that the tree dedicated to the Gentle Giant would be nearly 16 feet tall.
On Saturday, the Elmhurst Baseball League honored Dan Parmenter – a victim in the shooting at Northern Illinois University earlier this year – with an oak tree that will bear a bronze plaque with his name in Plunkett Park. The ceremony came after Parmenter’s family decided to donate some of the memorial money they have received to the league.
“We had called them a couple of months ago to inform them we were splitting some of the memorial gifts we had received with them,” said Gary Parmenter, Dan’s father. “It was so great to see friends and parents of the kids Dan played baseball with as a youth and umpired with for a couple of seasons.”
|
About Dan Dan Parmenter was one of the victims shot by a gunman Feb. 14 at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Parmenter died while saving the life of his girlfriend by protecting her from the gunman, according to reports. He was not registered in the class that the gunman targeted. |
Mike Locicero, president of the Elmhurst Baseball League, said it was heartening to see an outpouring of support at the community event.
The league will establish the Dan Parmenter Scholarship Fund with the $2,000 the Parmenter family gave it, Locicero said. Along with $500 the league raised at an annual event, he said the fund will be used to send children to baseball and umpire clinics.
“We’re hoping to continue to keep replenishing the funds. There’s potential every year to keep a decent balance,” Locicero said.
Another portion of the monetary memorial donations given to the Parmenters will go to the Elmhurst Eagles Youth Football League next month, Gary Parmenter said. He said the three-day camp that the Eagle kids go through in combination with York Community High School football coaches will have T-shirts commemorating and honoring Parmenter’s York football number 54. Another portion of money was donated to the York Booster Club to fund a steroid-awareness camp.
Gary Parmenter said he and his family are touched by all of the support they have received. They especially appreciate that the new tree will allow them to go somewhere close to feel close to Dan, who is buried in a family plot near Rock Island.
“It’s difficult going on without him and all of the good things he had going. It was really such a fitting memorial to have a nice tall oak tree planted there,” Gary Parmenter said.
“It’s amazing all these things (that) people (have) going on (for him). It just makes us so proud of our son and sorry that he had his life stolen from him, but at least he touched as many people as he did.”
