Tony Wilk’s granddaughter was in the audience at the Elmwood Park Village Board meeting on March 6, offering backup support to her grandfather as a resolution was read into the record, praising his service as an auxiliary police officer
“Good job,” his 2 1/2-year-old granddaughter, Elliana Mahon, called out, capsulizing what others were saying about her grandfather. She also sat next to Wilk, knowing he might turn emotional at the tributes coming his way.
“No tears,” she said.
Indeed, there were plenty of smiles to go around as Elmwood Park officials paid tribute to Wilk, an auxiliary police captain who recently retired after 22 years. A resolution read in his honor paid tribute to the 65-year-old for his dedication and professionalism.
Wilk was hired as an auxiliary officer on May 1, 1995, and promoted to sergeant in November 1996. He moved up to lieutenant rank in Dec. 15, 1997, and on March, 20, 2006, he was named captain, a rank he held to his retirement last month.
“When I first started, our unit was all volunteer,” he recalled. “The only thing, if you got an outside detail, then we got paid.”
Raising a family in Elmwood Park, Wilk said he originally began volunteering to do his part to increase the community’s safety, riding with full-time officers on weekends when he wasn’t working at his airport job.
Auxiliary officers “basically mean more eyes out there for the full-time officers,” Wilk said in a phone interview following the ceremony. “We write parking violations, patrol the parks, patrol the schools. You see something going on, you called [for a full-time officer].”
The full-timers “are great guys,” but “can’t be everywhere,” he explained..
The resolution into the record by Village Clerk Gina Pesko noted that “Tony was very instrumental in the planning of the Taste of Elmwood Park, Fall Fest, the Fourth of July Parade and Halloween Day auxiliary details.
“He also worked very closely with the chief in arranging auxiliary training, details, budgeting, payroll and hiring of new officers. Tony was a very active member of the unit and a staple in the community. Often, he would be seen patrolling the parks or working at the library.”
At the Taste of Elmwood Park, auxiliary officers monitor activity around the stage and check identification on alcohol sales, “things like that,” Wilk said.
March 6 was Wilk’s second retirement of sorts. After his airport job came to an end, Wilk joined the village’s Streets Department in 1998, working in a full-time laborer position until he retired in April of last year. He kept on as auxiliary captain, overseeing details and schedules.
At the village board meeting, no tears showing (at least outwardly), he thanked the village president, village manager, trustees, “for allowing me to serve the village in that capacity and trusting me to run the unit. Thank you very much.”
