An unveiling for the memorial of Bill Rutherford brought out dozens of people

PEORIA COUNTY ( 25News Now ) - Bike Peoria , the Trail Advocates, and the Peoria Park District honored the late William "Bill" Rutherford and unveiled a new memorial plaque for his contributions to the River City on Saturday morning Park at the Rock Island State Trail, located at 2918 W. Alta Lane.

Rutherford was a Peoria native who had a passion for environmental projects and contributed to many including the Wildlife Prairie Park, Forest Park Nature Center, and Jubilee College State Park, and he also redeveloped the Rock Island State railroad/hiking trail [rail trail] stretching from Dunlap to Princeville in 1981.

The chairman for the Bike Peoria committee entitled, 'Trail Advocates of Peoria', calls Rutherford a "remarkable individual", and said this memorial plaque took around six months to design.

"We went through Springdale Cemetery and said, 'Do you have any spare stones, maybe three we can stack like this?' Then we had a nice big glass plaque that we purchased," said Rucker. "Once we had the stones, that was what the design was, and I think it came out very nicely."

Rutherford lived passed in 2006 at the age of 92 and was also a pilot working with the greater Peoria Airport Authority.