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 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS,  Frank  C.  Bacon,  Jr.  was  born  in  1929  in
 3    Lexington, Mississippi to Frank C. Bacon, Sr. and Mary  Adams
 4    Bacon; and

 5        WHEREAS,  Brigadier General Bacon journeyed to Chicago at
 6    the age of seven years to live; and

 7        WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon attended several Chicago
 8    Public Schools including DuSable High School  from  which  he
 9    left  in  1945  to join the U. S. Army Air Force during World
10    War II; and

11        WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon was honorably discharged
12    from the U. S. Army Air Force, and  he  returned  to  Chicago
13    finding no work; he joined a friend and they enrolled in West
14    Virginia State College and R.O.T.C.; and

15        WHEREAS, Upon graduation from West Virginia State College
16    he  was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and
17    served for three years, and was again  honorably  discharged;
18    and

19        WHEREAS,  Brigadier  General  Bacon  began  a lifetime of
20    service in the U.S.  Army  Reserves  persevering  and  rising
21    through the ranks; and

22        WHEREAS,  Brigadier  General Bacon served diligently as a
23    member of the Chicago Police Department for twelve years; and

24        WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon worked for  the  Chicago
25    Committee   on  Urban  Opportunity  and  became  Director  of
26    Manpower; and

27        WHEREAS, He was an outstanding leader who  helped  bridge
28    the  gap  between the corporate world and the community; as a
29    community representative for Sears, he worked to develop  and
30    provide  funding to enhance programs and services to agencies
 
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 1    within the community; and

 2        WHEREAS, Brigadier  General  Bacon  has  spent  the  past
 3    twenty-three years warmly embracing and being embraced by his
 4    lovely wife, Dr. Gloria Jackson Bacon; and

 5        WHEREAS,  Brigadier General Bacon has always had a strong
 6    belief in the power of higher education and has  demonstrated
 7    that  belief  by  educating three sons, two step-daughters, a
 8    niece and nephew and numerous  young  people  who  have  come
 9    under his direction; and

10        WHEREAS,    Brigadier   General   Bacon   ventured   into
11    entrepreneurship with the ownership of Nutrition Plus,  Inc.,
12    a food distribution center; and

13        WHEREAS,  He  was  invited  back by a friend to his first
14    love of teaching at Adam Clayton Powell School where he later
15    became an assistant principal; and

16        WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon received the  honor  and
17    challenge  to  develop  a  military  school  as a high school
18    within  the  Chicago  Public  School  System  in  a  deserted
19    facility  in  Bronzeville  that  had  served  as  the  Eighth
20    Regiment Armory; and

21        WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon excelled at the task  by
22    utilizing all of his "People Skills" to raise $26,000,000 for
23    funding; and

24        WHEREAS,  Brigadier  General Bacon pursued the successful
25    completion of building, staffing, and operating  the  Chicago
26    Military  Academy,  the  first military school in the Chicago
27    Public School System; he proudly served  the  school  as  its
28    first Superintendent; and

29        WHEREAS,  The Chicago Military Academy will celebrate its
30    first  graduation  of  seniors  on   June   16,   2003   with
 
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 1    approximately  85% its graduates already accepted for college
 2    with scholarships; therefore, be it

 3        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
 4    NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
 5    we salute and honor Brigadier General  Frank  C.  Bacon,  Jr.
 6    (Ret); and be it further

 7        RESOLVED,  That God's blessings be upon Brigadier General
 8    Frank C. Bacon, Jr. (Ret) as he enters his retirement on June
 9    30, 2003; and be it further

10        RESOLVED, That a suitable  copy  of  this  resolution  be
11    prepared  and  presented to Brigadier General Frank C. Bacon,
12    Jr. (Ret) as an expression of our respect and esteem.