By Patrick Baron

NORMAL – Eugene Field School has dedicated a new walkway to a lifelong community member who attended the school years ago.

While the walkway has yet to be built, it has been named in honor of Reginald Wittaker, who attended Eugene Field the first year it opened in 1936. When the school was being built, Wittaker would grab a shovel and level dirt while construction workers were on break.

Building Administrator Jane Collins said laborers like Ronn Moorehead, Ron Paul, Eric Penn, Tony Sipes and Scott Nimmo are helping the school in the walkway’s construction.

“We’re going to construct it and the masons and the laborers are donating their time and labor to assist Unit 5 in getting it put in,” Collins explained.

Collins noted the sorry state of the sidewalks around the building. She explained the new walkway will be more wheelchair-friendly for students.

“The sidewalks and that are all beat up, so I just had this dream of building a walkway, a walking path on the inside the grounds,” said Collins.

Construction of the walkway will begin this summer, with the goal of being completed by the start of the next school year. Collin said the walkway is the first of four planned phases to renovate the grounds of Eugene Field.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].