AMBOY – “The Street” has officially been renamed.

Every year since 1997, the Amboy Civic Organization takes sealed bids starting at $200 for the right to name the street behind Amboy Food & Liquor in the memory of a loved one. The money raised are given to the Pankhurst Memorial Library.

This year, the road will be named Cecil Harrison Way as Cecil Harrison’s daughter, Barb Harrison, was the highest bidder.

“My mother didn’t know about it until today (Monday, May 1, the day the Cecil Harrison Way sign was installed),” Barb Harrison said. “I have five brothers and sisters, so I told them after I had won the street sign. It’s an honor to win it. It’s perfect timing because he passed away only a year ago and because the money goes to the Pankhurst Memorial Library, which is a good cause.

“It’s really neat. Although he has been gone a year, sometimes it’s out of sight, out of mind. If people see his name on the sign, they may say, ‘Oh, I remember Cecil.’”

Cecil Harrison left his friends, family, the community of Amboy on June 2, 2022 at 88.

The Amboy native was a 1953 Amboy High School graduate, a lifelong farmer, a member of the Amboy Lions Club and the American Legion Poths-Lavelle Post 453, and was married to Shirley Harrison for 65 years.

“Barb asked if I’d go take a picture with her,” Shirley Harrison said. “We have been taking pictures at the church. I said, ‘No, I’m not having my picture taken.’ It was all news to me that this was happening.

“It is really special. I’m glad we have something like this to remember people.”