HR0368 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0368 LRB099 11933 GRL 34203 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, In 1946, an Iowa teenager, Verlyn R. "Swede" Roskam, saw firsthand how the world looks when a man shares his strength and his emptiness with something greater than himself; and

WHEREAS, In that year, Swede Roskam, who had been attending a private Midwestern residential school - Wentworth Military Academy - learned that he would have to depart from the academy due to unfortunate circumstances; and

WHEREAS, Caught in the madness of World War II, another Wentworth graduate had never come home; the family of this unknown American hero, with a name lost to history, stepped forward to underwrite Swede's final year at Wentworth with the faith that this promising young man would pay forward the message he had heard; and

WHEREAS, Swede Roskam progressed from Wentworth to Knox College, graduating in 1951, and from there to an even greater achievement, the love and hand of his lifelong partner, Martha Jacobsen Roskam; and

WHEREAS, In the upsurge of creativity that came after World War II, Midwestern businessmen discovered how to use the chemical bonds found in clay minerals to create a wide variety of useful products; as an executive salesman for Oil-Ori Corporation of America, Swede Roskam was able to share new absorbent products with buyers around the world; and

WHEREAS, Throughout his business career, Swede Roskam was a loving parent to his 5 children, Stephen, Dick, Sarah, Peter, and Maribeth, and he was an upstanding and generous member of his church; and

WHEREAS, As his business career ripened and matured, Swede Roskam realized that the time had come when he could intensify the ability to work through the world to fill the emptiness of others; in 1982, aware that some private business firms were disposing of excess inventory made redundant by harsh economic conditions, he determined to create a matchmaking network in which useful private sector inventory resources could be donated, on a tax-advantaged basis, to post-secondary institutions of higher education on condition that the schools grant scholarships commensurate with the value of the donations; and

WHEREAS, This win-win organizational insight, initially implemented with the help of Illinois distribution firm W.W. Grainger, generated Educational Assistance Ltd., the nationwide helping organization that has played a role in the granting of aid to more than 10,000 students across America; and

WHEREAS, Continuing their business work, Swede and Martha Roskam opened new markets for American-invented products in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon; and

WHEREAS, In 2002, Martha saw a basketful of military dog tags that were being sold as war memorabilia; Swede"and Martha impulsively bought the entire basket, making it the foundation of the Roskam Dog Tags Project, Martha's and Swede's more than 5-year-long project to track down and return the tags to the veterans or their surviving families; and

WHEREAS, Swede Roskam was more than qualified to help Martha support his fellow American veterans, having served - as a young college graduate - as a company commander in the Korean War; and

WHEREAS, Although Swede Roskam was repeatedly honored by the Republic of Korea, his fellow veterans, his company, and his church, he repeatedly denied any claim to special pride or honors, pointing to the support he had been given by special people throughout the years and the need for him to pay it back; and

WHEREAS, Swede Roskam further felt that although he had been blessed with an abundant life, far more important as a blessing were the lives of his 5 children and their spouses, of Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington, and their 17 grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, Swede's son, Congressman Peter Roskam of Illinois' 6th District, recalls his father's words that "Life is choices - make good choices"; and

WHEREAS, Peter Roskam has testified that Swede Roskam "lived an abundant life. His love for God was the foundation upon which his life was built"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of Verlyn "Swede" Roskam of Wheaton, Illinois, a Christian man, and an American; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution should be presented to Verlyn R. "Swede" Roskam's wife, Martha Jacobsen Roskam; to his son and daughter-in-law, Stephen and Chandler Roskam, of Oak Park; to his son and daughter-in-law, Dick and Phyllis Roskam, of Indianapolis, Indiana; to his daughter, Sarah Roskam, of Seattle, Washington; to his son and daughter-in-law, Peter and Elizabeth Roskam, of Wheaton; and to his daughter and son-in-law, Maribeth and Jon Coote of Rogersville, Pennsylvania.