The late Wes McKague’s daughter and son-in-law, Pam Dunnam and Larry McWilliams, retrieved the discarded fountain honoring McKague and now display it in the backyard of their home. Robert Lowell / American Journal

A replacement drinking fountain with no plaque for Wes McKague is in Riverbank Park. Robert Lowell / American Journal

The Westbrook family of the late city Arborist Wes McKague is unhappy after the city removed a park fountain dedicated in his honor without their knowledge.

McKague’s daughter and son-in-law, Pam Dunnam and Larry McWilliams, said Monday they want respect back for McKague, who died 27 years ago.

“They took out a part of history,” Dunnam said Monday. “They disrespected the whole thing.”

McWilliams, a mayoral candidate Nov. 5, recently contacted Mayor-elect David Morse about the matter and Morse told the American Journal Nov. 13 the city will remember McKague.

The Cornelia Warren Association, in 1993, honored McKague, who had then recently retired, donated and dedicated the drinking fountain and a plaque in Riverbank Park on Main Street. The plaque reads, “In appreciation for your 26 years of service as the Westbrook city arborist.”

But the city removed the fountain and replaced it with a modern-looking fixture four years ago and without a plaque.

Morse said his understanding is that the fountain needed replacing, was retired, and replaced in 2020. “The current administration has recently been in contact with the family of Wes McKague about dedicating the new fountain to his memory with a plaque in replacement of the retired fountain,” Morse said in an email to the American Journal.

McWilliams, city Planning Board vice chair, said the city stopped using the original fountain and removed it during the COVID pandemic and it never was reinstalled.

The couple eventually “did our homework,” he said, and located it at Public Services. McWilliams last year asked the former mayor, Michael Foley, about the original fountain and was given City Hall permission to retrieve it at Public Services.

He said that he was given a sullied plaque and he found the fountain with parts missing amid castaway items.

The fountain, now held up with a wooden brace and with a cleaned-up plaque, is displayed in the couple’s backyard. McWilliams wants someone held accountable for the removal of the fountain from the park.

And Dunnam added, “I want to keep dad’s name in the city.”

The city, McWilliams said, received a grant for the replacement and Morse said the new fountain includes a water bottle-filling feature. But the replacement is “nothing close to a replica,” he said.

Westbrook, McWilliams said, was awarded “USA Tree City recognition for years” during McKague’s tenure.

After the original fountain was installed, Dunnam said her father would joke, “If you drive through Westbrook, stop and have a drink on me.”