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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois
3 were saddened to learn of the death of Clarence E. Willis Sr.
4 of Alton on November 29, 2003; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Mr. Willis was born October 17, 1920, in Lebanon
6 to Clarence A. and Carrie B. (Burns) Willis; and
 
7     WHEREAS, He married the former Mary L. Greene October 17,
8 1942 in St. Louis; she preceded him in death; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Mr. Willis grew up in Lebanon, and served with the
10 United States Navy during World War II; he was a wire mill
11 laborer and shop steward with Laclede Steel for 33 years, where
12 he was the chairman of the Ladle Club, Joint Safety Committee,
13 Joint Civil Rights Committee, and the Community Services
14 Committee; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He was President of the Alton Branch of the NAACP,
16 a board member and first black president of Alton Community
17 Unit School District No. 11, President and Scholarship Chairman
18 of the Lewis and Clark Community College Foundation Board, St.
19 Joseph's Hospital Advisory Board, Commissioner and Chairman of
20 the Alton Housing Authority, Commander of Alton VFW Post No.
21 3899, and Chairman of the Administrative Advisory Committee for
22 J.B. Johnson Career Development Center; and
 
23     WHEREAS, For the American Heart Association, he served on
24 the Illinois Affiliate board of directors, chairman of the
25 Administration Council and the Upper Madison County Heart
26 Association, Illinois Affiliate of the American Heart
27 Association; he was appointed by former Governor James Thompson
28 as a commisssioner of the Southwestern Illinois Metropolitan
29 and Regional Planning Commission; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, He was a member of the Boy Scouts Awareness
2 Exploration Program, the Southwestern Illinois Area Wide
3 Business Development Finance Corporation, the Madison County
4 Economic Opportunity Commission Board of Directors, and the
5 Disabled American Veterans; and
 
6     WHEREAS, He was also a member, Sunday School teacher, and
7 Sunday School superintendent, first at the Mount Olive Baptist
8 Church in Lebanon and later at the New Bethel A.M.E. Church in
9 Godfrey; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Mr. Willis's passing will be deeply felt by many,
11 especially his two daughters and their husbands, Joanne and
12 Sanford McMurray and Anita and Carl Woodard; his four sons and
13 three daughters-in-law, Gregory and Mary Willis, Clarence E.
14 and April Willis Jr., Paul L. and Sharon Willis, and Brian K.
15 Willis; his 23 grandchildren; his 20 great-grandchildren; 2
16 great-great-grandchildren; his six sisters and two
17 brothers-in-law, Magdalena Howard, Pauline Rhea, Earline
18 Jackson, Carolyn McBride, Aletha and William Watkins, and
19 Sharon and Joe Cannon; his four brothers and two
20 sisters-in-law, Charles Willis, Ralph and Minnie Willis,
21 Kenneth Willis, and Dwight and LaVern Willis; and
 
22     WHEREAS, He was preceded in death by his parents; his
23 granddaughter; two sisters; and three brothers; therefore, be
24 it
 
25     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL
26 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of
27 Clarence E. Willis Sr. along with all who knew and loved him
28 and extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends;
29 and be it further
 
30     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
31 presented to the family of Clarence E. Willis Sr. as an

 

 

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1 expression of our deepest sympathy.