HJ0066 LRB094 14114 DRH 49012 r

1
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Dr. Gerald L. Downie died in 2000, having served
3 as a physician in Kankakee, Ill. for more than 50 years; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Gerald L. Downie was born in 1903 and was educated
5 in a one-room schoolhouse in Mt. Ayr, Iowa, later graduating as
6 the top student at Simpson College; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Dr. Downie graduated from Northwestern Medical
8 School and served his internship at Kankakee State Hospital,
9 now known as Shapiro Developmental Center; and
 
10     WHEREAS, From 1932 through 1950 Dr. Downie and his wife,
11 Maurine, served three times as medical missionaries for the
12 United Methodist Church in China, leaving for a one-year
13 furlough in 1937, just as the Japanese invaded, and leaving the
14 final time after spending nine months under communist rule; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Dr. Downie also served as a medical missionary in
16 India, Africa, Taiwan, and Malaysia before returning to
17 Kankakee County, where he practiced medicine until he reached
18 the age of 89; and
 
19     WHEREAS, The State Route 17 bridge across the Kankakee
20 River in Kankakee is now known as the Court Street Bridge;
21 therefore, be it
 
22     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
23 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
24 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Court Street Bridge in
25 Kankakee be designated the Dr. Gerald L. Downie Bridge; and be
26 it further
 
27     RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
28 is requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with

 

 

HJ0066 - 2 - LRB094 14114 DRH 49012 r

1 State regulations, appropriate plaques or signs giving notice
2 of the name; and be it further
 
3     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
4 delivered to the Secretary of the Illinois Department of
5 Transportation and to Kankakee Mayor Donald E. Green.