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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Linda May Laird Bolton, who passed
4away on April 2, 2022; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton was born to Robert Allen Laird and
6Maxine Marie Jamison in Danville on May 2, 1948; she attended
7Danville schools and was home schooled for one year before
8attending First Baptist Christian Day School; she then
9attended North Ridge and Danville High School, graduating in
101967; she earned her associate's degree from then-Danville
11Junior College in 1969; she married Wilbur Wait Bolton at St.
12James United Methodist Church on January 27, 1973, and they
13lived in Champaign until 1980, where she attended the
14University of Illinois for two years; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton returned to school for another
16degree in computer programming and then took a job writing
17copy and helping to automate the traffic and billing
18department of WIAI FM; she worked there for 12 years, moving
19into the news department, where she served as a reporter,
20anchor, and then news director; during that time, she earned
21an award for Second Best Downstate News Reporting from the
22Illinois News Broadcasters; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton was recruited by Public Health
2Administrator Steve Laker to be in charge of Community Health
3Education in 1996 to help the public understand the importance
4of public health issues; while there, she facilitated three
5IPLANs, the required community health needs assessments that
6health departments are required to do for license retention;
7she earned an award for marketing from the Illinois Public
8Health Association; locally, she was named a Woman of
9Distinction; she filled an unexpired term on the Danville City
10Council, where she served for six years, spending most of that
11time chairing the Public Works Committee; while at the
12Vermilion Country Health Department, she graduated with a
13degree in Organizational Leadership from Greenville College in
142007; she accepted a position as director of Business
15Development at Vermilion Advantage after 14 years with the
16health department; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton was a certified public information
18officer with a specialty in Risk Communications, and she
19served as the volunteer public information officer for
20Vermilion County Emergency Management for 16 years; she was a
21past member of Ambucs; she was an active community volunteer,
22chairing Media/Marketing for the Oldsmobile Balloon Classic
23for most of its 15 years, and she was proudly one of the
24organizers and board members of the 2016 Balloons Over
25Vermilion; she served as president of the Convention and

 

 

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1Visitors' Bureau; she was the first female president of the
2Danville Family YMCA, serving two terms; she volunteered for
3Festival of Trees for many years, including serving as chair
4of Marketing/Media; she served as director, producer, board
5member, and president of the Red Mask Kathryn Randolph Theatre
6in Danville, where she additionally appeared in a Christmas
7production with her husband Wilbur on the stage where they
8met; she also had the rare privilege of appearing as Ouiser in
9the Beef House Dinner Theatre production of Steel Magnolias;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, Once she left the news business at WIAI, Linda
12Bolton was recruited by Michael Hulvey to help with news at
13Neuhoff Media, where she was asked to helm a morning radio
14interview show, which she did; she hosted Newsmakers 1490 WAN
15for many years; she won a Silver Dome award for her community
16news program from the Illinois Broadcasters Association in
172016; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton served on the Presence United
19Samaritans Medical Center Missions Committee and the Community
20Leadership Board; she was a board member of the Vermilion
21County Rape Crisis Center, known today as the Survivor
22Resource Center; she became an advocate for CASA after she
23retired; she served on the Danville Police and Fire Commission
24for many years, assuming the role of chair when the former

 

 

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1longtime chair became a judge; she also served on the city's
2Hispanic/Latino Committee; she served on the Danville Public
3Library Board of Trustees, assuming the role of president in
42016; she served on the Grants Committee of the Vermilion Area
5Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors and the Vermilion
6County Mental Health Initiative; she assisted Vermilion County
7Board Chairman Mike Marron in facilitating Strategic Planning
82015 from 2016 to 2017, setting a vision for the county's
9future; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton was an active member of St. James
11United Methodist Church, serving on its Board of Trustees,
12which she chaired for two terms; she also served on and chaired
13the Staff/Parish Relations Committee; she then served on the
14Visioning, Building, and Construction Committees, overseeing
15renovations to the historic old church; alongside her husband,
16she was a member of the Keystone Sunday School group; she also
17served as church archivist, preserving much of the church's
18history; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Alongside her husband, Linda Bolton was part of
20the original organizers of the vintage baseball team, the
21Vermilion Voles, and they were very active with the group for a
22time; they were avid collectors of memorabilia from the
231933/34 Chicago World's Fair; she also collected memorabilia
24from businesses in the City of Danville and antique Santas;

 

 

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1she loved reading, and she belonged to a book club with her
2husband; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton enjoyed sharing lunch and life with
4a small group of very close friends, and they included Carol
5Vorel, Jenny Trimmell, Nancy O'Kane, and some special young
6women she was privileged to mentor over the years, Dona
7Chiafreddo and Alicia Pettigrew; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Linda Bolton always marveled at living such a
9great life with a truly supportive, understanding husband who
10made her laugh, never judged, and kept her grounded while
11never letting her take herself too seriously; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
13ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
14Linda May Laird Bolton and extend our sincere condolences to
15her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it
16further
 
17    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18presented to the family of Linda Bolton as an expression of our
19deepest sympathy.