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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Felicia Munn Galas Brenner, who passed
4 away on May 23, 2008; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Felicia Brenner survived the ravages of the Lodz
6 (Poland) ghetto, the death camps of Auschwitz and
7 Bergen-Belsen, and the Salzwadel work camp, which
8 unfortunately claimed the lives of her parents and six brothers
9 and sisters; and
 
10     WHEREAS, After she was liberated in 1945, Felicia Brenner
11 met her first husband, Tibor Munk, at an American hospital in
12 Frankfurt, Germany; Felicia and Tibor found his mother, Roza,
13 who also survived Auschwitz; together, the three of them
14 immigrated to the United States in July of 1946; and
 
15     WHEREAS, In 1955, Felicia Brenner and her husband moved to
16 Skokie, where they raised their two daughters and where she
17 developed her reputation on the North Shore for her beautiful
18 handmade draperies and bedspreads; and
 
19     WHEREAS, After remarrying in 1985, Felicia Brenner and her
20 husband, Gershon Brenner, became founding members of the
21 Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center; being a gifted

 

 

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1 speaker, she was invited numerous times to speak to children
2 and university students about her war experience, doing so with
3 unfailing candor, grace, and eloquence; and
 
4     WHEREAS, In 2005, Felicia Brenner was named Mayor Daley's
5 Speaker of the Year at Chicago's annual Holocaust Memorial
6 event; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Felicia Brenner was the beloved wife of Gershon
8 Brenner, the cherished mother of Debbie Long and Judy Shiffman,
9 the loved mother-in-law of Courtney Long, the stepmother of
10 Brian (Judy) and Warren Brenner; and the revered grandmother of
11 Rebecca and Jori Shiffman and Jennifer Long; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Felicia Brenner and her speeches inspired the many
13 who heard her moving words; everyone who knew her was touched
14 by her struggles to overcome the incredible challenges of her
15 life and admired her indomitable will to survive; therefore, be
16 it
 
17     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
18 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
19 her family and friends, the passing of Felicia Munn Galas
20 Brenner; and be it further
 
21     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

 

 

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1 presented to the family of Felicia Brenner as an expression of
2 our sympathy.