Full Text of SR0991 100th General Assembly
SR0991 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Ruth Stamm Dear of Oak Park, who | 4 | | peacefully passed away March 31, 2017, at the age of 103; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was born in New York City to | 6 | | immigrants Anna and Simon Stamm on January 16, 1914; she | 7 | | attended Hunter College, where she majored in languages and was | 8 | | active in radical student movements and causes; it was during | 9 | | this time that she met her kindred spirit, George Dear, who was | 10 | | a Princeton University student; they moved to Chicago in 1937 | 11 | | and married in 1938; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear soon became a Gandhi pacifist, | 13 | | advocating for peace by participating in one-day strikes based | 14 | | on the Oxford Peace Pledge, while George worked for U. S. | 15 | | Steel's South Works plant and became a leader in the | 16 | | Steelworkers Union Local; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's civil rights activism began in | 18 | | the 1940s in Hyde Park; during this time, she also opposed | 19 | | World War II and was one of a small group who protested every | 20 | | Sunday at Chicago's Washington Park Open Forum in a | 21 | | court-ordered free speech area; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was active during the mid-1950s in | 2 | | the cooperative camp of Circle Pines Center in Michigan, which | 3 | | promoted peace, social justice, environmental stewardship, and | 4 | | cooperation; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was committed to the Congress of | 6 | | Racial Equality (CORE), Women Strike for Peace, Women for | 7 | | Peace, and the Women's International League for Peace and | 8 | | Freedom; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear traveled to the Soviet Union in | 10 | | 1963 for an international peace meeting with North Vietnamese | 11 | | women; as the war in Vietnam escalated, she joined the Chicago | 12 | | Area Draft Resisters (CADRE); and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear moved to Oak Park in 1974, where | 14 | | she joined the newly formed Oak Park chapter of the War | 15 | | Resisters League; she helped organize the Metro West Peace | 16 | | Center, along with the annual Hiroshima Day Observance in Oak | 17 | | Park's Scoville Park; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was jailed at the age of 73 for | 19 | | her protest of militarism and nuclear proliferation at the | 20 | | Arlington Heights military base in August of 1987; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear participated in the Chicago Pledge |
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| 1 | | of Resistance which opposed U.S. intervention in Central | 2 | | America; she worked for women's and older people's liberation | 3 | | with Women Mobilized for Change, Citizens for a Democratic | 4 | | Society, and the Gray Panthers; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear had a weekly radio program for the | 6 | | Gray Panthers, while covering other topics of interest, such as | 7 | | women's health and abortion rights; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear also published numerous articles | 9 | | in the Nonviolent Activist of the War Resisters League, WIN | 10 | | Magazine, and Hyde Park Kenwood Voices; her journals, | 11 | | publications, and letters are collected at the Gannon Center, | 12 | | Loyola University Chicago; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's political memoir, "You Can't Not | 14 | | Do It: The Journal of an Older Activist" was published in 2001; | 15 | | and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's life's work was being engaged in | 17 | | political movements for economic and social justice; she | 18 | | challenged racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, gender, and age | 19 | | oppression; she protested, demonstrated, and practiced civil | 20 | | disobedience for the public good; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was preceded in death by her |
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| 1 | | husband, George Dear; her parents; her brother; and other | 2 | | relatives; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear is survived by her niece, Karen | 4 | | Stamm and many other family members and friends; therefore, be | 5 | | it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 7 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 8 | | Ruth Stamm Dear, and extend our sincere condolences to her | 9 | | family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it | 10 | | further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 | | presented to the family of Ruth Stamm Dear as an expression of | 13 | | our deepest sympathy.
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