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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to honor the achievements and
4remarkable contributions of Illinois residents; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Gus Lukis, a cobbler from the Chicago neighborhood
6of Hyde Park, has run a shoe repair shop on 57th Street, Hyde
7Park Shoe Rebuilders, for 51 years; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Lukis has earned unending respect from his
9friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners for his
10excellent disposition and his sense of family and community;
11and
 
12    WHEREAS, During the 5 decades at the business he grew up
13with and loved so much, Lukis has fixed everything from the
14backpacks of University of Chicago students to the shoes of
15Nobel Prize winners; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Lukis moved from his Chicago birthplace in 1929 to
17Leonidion, Greece when he was 6 months old; after surviving the
18horrors of World War II as Leonidion was constantly bombed, he
19returned to the United States as a young man in 1947; and
 
20    WHEREAS, At the age of 18, after living briefly in Los

 

 

HR1582- 2 -LRB096 24743 GRL 44796 r

1Angeles, Lukis returned to Chicago, where he learned to mend
2shoes at his uncle's shoe repair shop in Hyde Park; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Shortly after beginning work at his uncle's shop,
4Gus met his future wife, Connie, with whom he spent 55
5wonderful years before her death in 2004; together, they raised
6two sons, Jim and John; and
 
7    WHEREAS, In 1959, Lukis and his uncle moved their shoe shop
8to 57th Street; as a testament to his first-rate customer
9service, his commitment to the business he loves, and the
10loyalty of his Hyde Park residents, Gus is a neighborhood icon
11and is familiarly known as the "Mayor of 57th Street";
12therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
15congratulate Gus Lukis on the occasion of his 51 years on 57th
16Street in Hyde Park and his dedication to the Hyde Park
17community; and be it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19presented to Gus Lukis as a symbol of our respect and esteem.