093_HR0463

 
                                     LRB093 13149 HSS 18411 r

 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, The members of the House of  Representatives  of
 3    the State of Illinois are pleased to honor citizens that have
 4    made outstanding contributions to the State of Illinois; and

 5        WHEREAS,  Marie  LeBeau  was born in New Orleans; she was
 6    raised a devout Catholic and studied business at  the  former
 7    Straight  College;  she  visited Chicago at the age of 20 and
 8    met Charles Wilkinson on a blind date in Aurora; she moved to
 9    Illinois in 1927, where she married Mr.  Wilkinson  in  1930;
10    they  were  married  for 60 years, until Mr. Wilkinson passed
11    away; and

12        WHEREAS, Mr. and  Mrs.  Wilkinson  moved  into  a  modest
13    two-level  home  on  Aurora's  North View Street, now bearing
14    Mrs.  Wilkinson's  name;  their  home  was  known  simply  as
15    "Marie's house", where the poor, the hungry,  the  displaced,
16    the  unemployed,  the  sick, and the mistreated were welcome;
17    and

18        WHEREAS, Mrs. Wilkinson first became an active  voice  in
19    the  community  when she took an interest in Hispanic factory
20    workers, pulling them from the boxcars they were  living  in,
21    with  no  electricity,  water,  or  even shoes; she worked on
22    behalf of the  factory  workers  and  convinced  the  factory
23    owners to provide year-round work for the employees; she went
24    on  to  challenge  City  Hall to provide schools and adequate
25    housing for the many people that had moved to Aurora; and

26        WHEREAS, Mrs. Wilkinson publicized  the  needs  of  those
27    whom  community  leaders  and media outlets once preferred to
28    ignore;  she  helped  to  launch  more  than  60   charitable
29    organizations, including Feed the Hungry Program, Hesed House
30    Homeless  Shelter,  Breaking  Free Drug Program, the Catholic
31    Social Action Conference, SciTech Youth Science  Museum,  and
32    the  local  chapter  of  the  Urban  League;  she established
 
                            -2-      LRB093 13149 HSS 18411 r
 1    college funds  for  underprivileged  children  and  inclusion
 2    guidelines for the disabled; and

 3        WHEREAS,  In  the  late  1940s,  when  Mrs. Wilkinson was
 4    refused  seating  at  a   local   diner   because   she   was
 5    African-American, she won her case before the State Appellate
 6    Court;  through  the  Human  Relations  Commission  that  she
 7    founded  in 1964, she is credited with the first Fair Housing
 8    Ordinance in Illinois; and

 9        WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Mrs. Wilkinson saw  the  need  for
10    child  care  for the children of single mothers; with a group
11    of other concerned residents, Mrs. Wilkinson  raised  $46,000
12    for  a child-care center in Aurora; the Marie Wilkinson Child
13    Development Center thrives today; and

14        WHEREAS,  Mrs.  Wilkinson  has  been  honored   for   her
15    unselfish contributions to her fellow travelers in Aurora; in
16    October  of  2002,  Mrs.  Wilkinson  was  presented  with the
17    Catholic  Church's  highest  honor  for  missionary  work  in
18    America, The Lumen Christi Award, meaning  Light  of  Christ;
19    therefore, be it

20        RESOLVED,   BY   THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE
21    NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,  that
22    we honor Marie Wilkinson's many contributions to the citizens
23    of Aurora and the State of Illinois by proclaiming Wednesday,
24    September  3,  2003  as  Marie  Wilkinson Day in the State of
25    Illinois; and be it further

26        RESOLVED, That a suitable  copy  of  this  resolution  be
27    presented  to Marie Wilkinson as an expression of our respect
28    and esteem for the endless work she has  done  on  behalf  of
29    others, without regard to self.