PEKIN, Ill. (WMBD) — A longtime Pekin community activist and supporter has been honored with a memorial sign on a stretch of road she championed.
On Friday, the city of Pekin renamed a stretch of Veterans Drive as Carol A. Shields Memorial Highway in honor of Shields, who died in January 2021, but who spent decades serving on boards and commissions within Pekin.
A Facebook post by the city’s police chief and interim city manager John Dossey said it was a “no brainer” to honor the 82-year-old woman based upon how much she had done for Pekin.
The sign is in between the intersection of Griffin Avenue and Allentown Road, said her son, Doug Shields.
In the Facebook post on the Pekin Police Department’s page, Dossey listed several things Carol Shields was involved with:
- Founding member of the Pekin Transportation Committee
- Driving Force to bring Veteran’s Drive Corridor project to fruition
- Member of the State of Illinois Association of Realtors since 1996 (President, 1996)
- Member Pekin Area Association of Realtors (Past President)
- Member Board of Directors National Association of Realtors
- President Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce 1992-1993
- Executive Director of Pekin Area Chamber of Commerce 1996-2001
- 2004 Grand Marshall of Pekin Marigold Festival
- Past member of City of Pekin Economic Development Advisory Board
- Past Member of City of Pekin Human Rights Advisory Board
- Past Member of Pekin First Committee
- Long time Master of Ceremonies Puttin’ on Pekin Breakfasts
- Local Boards (former) – United Way, AMT, Commerce Bank, Pekin Hospital (past chairman), Pekin Hospital Foundation Board, Highland Woods (past vice-president)
- Member (Former) – Kiwanis, SCORE, Cincinnati Township Trustee, Fourth of July Fireworks Committee
- Other Recognition – Recipient of YWCA Business Award
- Volunteer (Former) – Cub Scouts / Boy Scouts, Build Pekin, Newcomers, Junior League
