Old vs. New - Cary/FRG: Residents share passion for Cary

Josh Howell and and his wife, Jackie, moved to Cary in 2006 to give their daughters, Abby, 3, (left) and Evie, 18 months, more room to spread out. (Travis Haughton — thaughton@nwherald.com)

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CARY – This village has seen remarkable change over the decades, but longtime residents and newcomers to Cary continue to share and enjoy “a community of beautiful neighborhoods.”

As the village slogan notes, Cary’s various neighborhoods – both new and old – give the growing suburb a small-town feel. The village also offers a host of other benefits that make it an attractive location for families, which helps explain Cary’s recent growth spurt.

As recent arrivals such as Josh Howell and his family can attest, Cary is a welcoming, neighborhood-oriented community. Josh Howell, his wife, Jackie, and their daughter Abby, now 3, moved to Cary in August 2006 after an exhaustive 18-month search for a new home. Shortly after they moved to Cary, the Howells’ second daughter, Evie, now 1, was born.

“We fell immediately in love with it,” said Josh Howell, an account manager for Sprint. “It’s an area we knew we would enjoy raising kids.”

With Abby and Evie involved in various Cary Park District Programs and friendly neighbors, the family soon felt welcomed in the community.

“There is a closeness to the community,” Howell said. “Neighbors go above and beyond to help out, and you see a lot of smiles.”

In Cary, the Howell family found exactly what they had been seeking. Good schools, amiable people and safe streets made the village an easy place to settle and call home.

“It hasn’t been one thing,” Howell said. “It’s the whole package.”

Howell became more involved with the community when plans to build a gravel pit in the family’s backyard surfaced shortly after they moved in.

Although it was perhaps a less convivial introduction to the village, it nonetheless has strengthened Howell’s confidence in the village. As the designs to expand a Meyer Material mining operation next to the Fox Trails subdivision moved forward, Howell started to attend village board meetings, talk to neighbors and take an active role in local government.

Under the terms of an agreement with the village, Meyer Material pledged $1 million to the 130 homeowners in the Fox Trails neighborhood to help offset the negative impact of the mine. When it came time to figure out what to do with that money, Howell was asked by Village President Steve Lamal to serve on the Village’s Home Value Assistance Committee, which was charged with finding an equitable way to distribute that money.

“It was an impossible task,” Howell said.

The committee eventually decided to reimburse each of the 130 homeowners for up to $7,500 in home improvements.

“I think everyone was really happy with how things turned out, even though many people never wanted the mine,” he said.

Even after having a mine built in his backyard, Howell said he had no regrets about moving to Cary.

“We can be perfectly happy here for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Eighty-year-old Cary resident Elroy Fitzgerald, an Illinois referee of 50 years, runs the sidelines during a seventh grade girls basketball game at Prairie Grove Middle School in Crystal Lake on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009. (Justin Edmonds — jedmonds@nwherald.com)

The Cary that the Howells have grown to love was shaped by residents such as Elroy Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, 79, is a tool and die maker, longtime community leader and well-known local sports referee. (Click to watch a video feature on Fitzgerald.)

Fitzgerald has lived in the village for most of his life and seen it change. He became involved in many aspects of the village and community, and his work has left an indelible impression.

Born in 1929, Fitzgerald only left Cary to serve in the military during the Korean War.

“It has changed immensely,” Fitzgerald said. “When I grew up, there was nothing to do in Cary. Just sit on a bench and watch the cars go by.”

As a boy, when he wasn’t working on his grandparents’ farm, Fitzgerald often could be found in the Cary Grade School playing basketball.

“There was no heat, and we had to go to a board member’s home to get the key,” Fitzgerald said.

After a while, Fitzgerald and his basketball buddies found it was easier to just leave the window open so they could come and go as they pleased.

It is a testament to Fitzgerald’s 28 years of service on the District 155 School Board that the gymnasium at Cary-Grove High School is named after him.

Fitzgerald was instrumental in starting the village’s Little League baseball program in 1953. While stationed in Paso Robles, Calif,. after serving oversees in Korea, Fitzgerald was turned on to the wonders of Little League. He brought it back to Cary with him when he returned.

In addition, Fitzgerald has been a ref at youth sporting events for more than 50 years.

“I really enjoy it. I do it for the fun,” he said.

Fitzgerald has officiated at baseball, football and basketball games at all competitive levels. He continues to referee games today.

Through all the changes, Fitzgerald is still passionate about the village.

“I’m a Caryite,” he said. “I just love Cary.”