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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are deeply
3saddened to learn of the death of Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp of
4Elmhurst who passed away on August 1, 2012, at the age of 102;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp (Fleming) was born in
7Cincinnati; she graduated from Catholic high school in 1928,
8and began working as a file clerk for an insurance company; she
9married Louis Greifenkamp in 1931, and moved with him to Villa
10Park in 1937, and then onto Elmhurst in 1941; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp found herself widowed
12at the age of 40; she raised 8 children as a single mother in
13Elmhurst in the 1950's and 1960's, sending all of them to
14Immaculate Conception Grade School in Elmhurst and six of them
15to the church's high school; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp returned to work as a
17file clerk, first at American Thread in Chicago and then at
18Mary Queen of Heaven church in Elmhurst and finally in the
19office of local ophthalmologist William Cahill; after a brief
20time living in California in the mid-1950's, she returned to
21Elmhurst, taking a job as a receptionist at the Elmhurst
22Medical Clinic; she retired for good at age 86; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp was named "Mother of
2the Year" in 1954, by the local Elmhurst Press; she was an avid
3reader and lifelong learner, taking French and history classes
4at Elmhurst College in her 60's and pursuing swimming and yoga
5classes at the Elmhurst YMCA; she taught English as a second
6language to adults in her later years; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp had a scholarship
8established in her name, by her children on her 90th birthday
9in 2000, for students applying to Immaculate Conception High
10School; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp was preceded in death
12by her husband, Louis; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp is survived by her
14sons, Tom and Jay; her daughters, Polly Librizzi, Laura, and
15Katherine; her 26 grandchildren; her 52 great-grandchildren;
16her 10 great-great-grandchildren; and her brothers, Francis
17X., Richard, and Robert; therefore, be it
 
18    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL
19ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
20Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp, and we extend our sincere
21condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved

 

 

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1her; and be it further
 
2    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3presented to the family of Mary Elizabeth Greifenkamp as an
4expression of our deepest sympathy.