SR0439 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0439 LRB095 14465 KXB 40371 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Judge Joseph James Barr of Wood River, who passed away on November 10, 2007; and

WHEREAS, Judge Joseph James Barr was born October 31, 1919, in Alton to Joseph E. Barr and Mary (Clasby) Barr; on September 25, 1945, he and the former Mary Louise Dahm were married at St. Ann's Church in Normandy, Missouri ; and

WHEREAS, Joseph Barr was a lifetime resident of Wood River and a lifetime member of St. Bernard's Catholic Church; he graduated from Marquette Catholic High School in Alton and from the University of Notre Dame in undergraduate and law schools in 1942; and

WHEREAS, He served with the United States Marines in World War II in the Pacific Theater; he participated in island landings on Tarawa (November 20, 1943) Saipan (June 15, 1944) and Tinian (July 24, 1944); he was wounded in Tarawa and was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Nimitz; he was also awarded the Purple Heart; and

WHEREAS, Joseph Barr was a member of the Illinois Bar Association since 1946; he was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus Wood River Council, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Disabled American Veterans; as a young lawyer, he served as an attorney for the City of Wood River, the Village of Roxana, and the Roxana Park District; in 1950, he was elected Probate Judge of Madison County and continued in that office until elected to the Circuit Court in 1957; he retired from the Judicial Office in 1982, and after retirement was associated with the Holland and Sweet Law Firm in Wood River; and

WHEREAS, Judge Joseph Barr is survived by his wife, Mary Louise; his children, Joseph E. Barr and his wife, Jacqueline Crowe, James P. Barr, Mary Elliott and her husband, Donald, Patricia Fulks and her husband, Ronald, and Janet Hoelscher and her husband, Stephen; his ten grandchildren; his two great-grandchildren; and his sister, Marjorie Mossman Kenney; he was preceded in death by his parents and four infant children, Michael Louis, John Robert, Ann Marie, and Theresa Ann Barr; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Judge Joseph James Barr; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Judge Joseph James Barr as a symbol of our sympathy.