Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SR0260

SR0260 LRB104 13143 LAW 25270 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Wayne Calhoun "Doc" Temple, the dean of Abraham Lincoln scholars, who passed away on March 31, 2025; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple, the son of Howard and Ruby Temple, was born on a small family farm near Richwood, Ohio on February 5, 1924; he began his education in a one-room schoolhouse and graduated as valedictorian from his high school, during which he ran on a championship boys' 4 x 1500-yard relay team; he also played clarinet in a traveling men's band; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple began attending Ohio State University in 1941 before being drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps; he was sent to Urbana for training as an engineer and then to North Carolina for special training, which was followed by being sent to Kansas for ordnance production; he was stationed in Europe from 1945 to 1946; he served as a technician third grade, the equivalent of a sergeant today, in the Signal Corps at age 21; he helped install new airfields and radio communications, some of it for use by General-in-Chief Eisenhower; he was awarded the Bronze Star for a one-man battle with a Luftwaffe pilot who strafed his camp on the Franco-German border in the last weeks of the war; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple, after World War II, earned his Bachelor of Arts in History and English from the University of Illinois; while there, he was the graduate student and research assistant of Prof. James G. "Jim" Randall, the first academic historian of Lincoln, until the professor's death in 1953; while serving the professor, he helped him write volume 3 of the tetralogy, Lincoln the President, published between 1945 to 1955, and he helped draft volume 4; he also helped Ruth Randall with her popular and junior histories about the Lincolns and women of the Civil War era, and he corresponded with her until her death in 1971; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple published his first book in 1958, titled Indian Villages of the Illinois Country, which was commissioned by Thorne Deuel of the Illinois State Museum and is still considered a model of research and analysis; he and his wife, Lois McDonald Temple, then relocated to Harrogate, Tennessee, where he led the history department of Lincoln Memorial University; while there, he edited the Lincoln Herald, engaging Lloyd Ostendorf to serve as illustrator and making it the best periodical in the field; he remained as editor until the mid-1970s, long after he was brought on the staff of the Illinois State Archives in 1964; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple served as chief deputy director of the Illinois State Archives for decades; his position entailed writing, public speaking, and helping answer questions for an average of 150 people per month who contacted him by phone, by mail, or in person; during his tenure, he became known for his skill at land surveying, which proved invaluable for the dozen survey questions a month that came in on that topic, alongside his ability in tracing the course of legislative bills old or new, gubernatorial proclamations, or judicial rulings; he mastered the use of old registers, microfilm, and the typewriter, but he never embraced computers; he was recognized for his value to the State and the public by nine Secretaries of State, of both parties, who kept him on staff until he retired in 2016; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple's published works, including books, articles, and booklets, remain a testament to his great energy and skill; he wrote about the Lincoln Home in By Square and Compasses, which was published in 1984 and updated in 2002; with his second wife, Sunderine "Sandy", who served as a head docent at the Old State Capitol for 40 years, he wrote Illinois' Fifth Capitol: The House that Lincoln Built and Caused to Be Rebuilt (1837-1865) in 1988, the standard work on its initiation, contracts, costs, furnishing, refurbishing, and historic moments, such as Lincoln's 1858 "House Divided" speech; in shorter works, he found or recovered the stories of people high and low, including Mariah Vance, the Lincolns' Black laundress, and Abraham Lincoln's formal commission as an Illinois militia officer after the Black Hawk War of 1832; he authored possibly his most enduring book in 1995, Abraham Lincoln: From Skeptic to Prophet, which served as a religious study and a biography of the Lincoln family; he also supported local history projects with a number of individuals and entities, including Phil Wagner, John Eden, the Masonic Lodge, and several towns; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple was named a regent by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois in the 1960s, and he was later elected a laureate, the highest honor in the State, in 2009; after helping to reactivate the 114th Illinois Volunteer Infantry of the Civil War era in 1969, he rose in its ranks from lieutenant colonel to full general, presiding at dozens of ceremonies; nationally, he was a member of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission from 1960 to 1965, and he was invited to recite the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with President Nixon and other officials in 1971 and then to speak to the U.S. Senate about the Lincoln boys' Scottish-born tutor, Alexander Williamson; he was also present for the commissioning of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in 1988; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple had the honor of being immortalized in Alan E. Hunter's 2025 oral-history-as-life-study, Thursdays with Doc, and some of his best 500 to 600 articles are being collected into a book edited by Steven Rogstad; his legacy and work will continue to educate and inspire Lincoln scholars for ages to come; and

WHEREAS, Doc Temple was preceded in death by his wife, Sandy; his first wife, Lois; and by his parents; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Wayne Calhoun "Doc" Temple, the dean of Abraham Lincoln scholars, and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Doc Temple as an expression of our deepest sympathy.