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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Johanna "Hanny" Leitson, who passed
4away on April 1, 2022 at the age of 96; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson was born to Charlotte and Max Gross
6in Vienna, Austria, where she also spent her childhood years;
7she fled Austria at the age of 13 on the Kindertransport, an
8emergency transport of 10,000 Jewish children from Germany,
9Austria, and Czechoslovakia to England in May 1939; she lived
10with a family in Cheltenham, England until 1944, when she
11traveled to New York City at the age of 19 to be with her
12mother; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson earned her Bachelor of Arts in
14Social Work and her Master of Social Work from the University
15of Michigan in Ann Arbor; she worked as a social worker and
16therapist in Flint, Michigan; following the death of her
17husband, the late Morton "Mort" Leitson, she worked as a
18therapist in Ann Arbor; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson was socially and politically
20engaged throughout her life, beginning as a teenager during
21World War II with Young Austria, an organization of exiled
22Austrians living in England dedicated to a free and democratic

 

 

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1Austria; she became a civil rights activist while a university
2student and, later, while living in Flint; she was also an
3early opponent of the Vietnam War, attending the first
4nationwide Day of Protest against the war in Chicago in 1964;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson was committed to assisting her
7community; she helped establish the Flint chapter of Planned
8Parenthood; she also aided low-income seniors living in shared
9affordable homes while in Ann Arbor; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson was a wonderful and valued listener
11who loved talking with and being supportive of friends and
12family; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Hanny Leitson spent the last 14 years of her life
14in Oak Park, Illinois; and
 
15    WHEREAS, At the time of her passing, Hanny Leitson was
16survived by her children, Karen (Jeffrey) Grabelsky, Mark
17(Pamela) Leitson, and Ruth (Martin) Tatarka; her
18grandchildren, Leah Grabelsky, Shira Grabelsky, Jenny (Scott
19Macguffin) Grabelsky, Sarah Leitson, Joshua Leitson, and David
20Leitson; and her great-grandchild, Finnean Macguffin;
21therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
3Johanna "Hanny" Leitson and extend our sincere condolences to
4her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it
5further
 
6    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7presented to the family of Hanny Leitson as an expression of
8our deepest sympathy.