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1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Frank C. Bacon, Jr. was born in 1929 in
3 Lexington, Mississippi to Frank C. Bacon, Sr. and Mary Adams
4 Bacon; and
5 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon journeyed to Chicago at
6 the age of seven years to live; and
7 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon attended several Chicago
8 Public Schools including DuSable High School from which he
9 left in 1945 to join the U. S. Army Air Force during World
10 War II; and
11 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon was honorably discharged
12 from the U. S. Army Air Force, and he returned to Chicago
13 finding no work; he joined a friend and they enrolled in West
14 Virginia State College and R.O.T.C.; and
15 WHEREAS, Upon graduation from West Virginia State College
16 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and
17 served for three years, and was again honorably discharged;
18 and
19 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon began a lifetime of
20 service in the U.S. Army Reserves persevering and rising
21 through the ranks; and
22 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon served diligently as a
23 member of the Chicago Police Department for twelve years; and
24 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon worked for the Chicago
25 Committee on Urban Opportunity and became Director of
26 Manpower; and
27 WHEREAS, He was an outstanding leader who helped bridge
28 the gap between the corporate world and the community; as a
29 community representative for Sears, he worked to develop and
30 provide funding to enhance programs and services to agencies
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1 within the community; and
2 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon has spent the past
3 twenty-three years warmly embracing and being embraced by his
4 lovely wife, Dr. Gloria Jackson Bacon; and
5 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon has always had a strong
6 belief in the power of higher education and has demonstrated
7 that belief by educating three sons, two step-daughters, a
8 niece and nephew and numerous young people who have come
9 under his direction; and
10 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon ventured into
11 entrepreneurship with the ownership of Nutrition Plus, Inc.,
12 a food distribution center; and
13 WHEREAS, He was invited back by a friend to his first
14 love of teaching at Adam Clayton Powell School where he later
15 became an assistant principal; and
16 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon received the honor and
17 challenge to develop a military school as a high school
18 within the Chicago Public School System in a deserted
19 facility in Bronzeville that had served as the Eighth
20 Regiment Armory; and
21 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon excelled at the task by
22 utilizing all of his "People Skills" to raise $26,000,000 for
23 funding; and
24 WHEREAS, Brigadier General Bacon pursued the successful
25 completion of building, staffing, and operating the Chicago
26 Military Academy, the first military school in the Chicago
27 Public School System; he proudly served the school as its
28 first Superintendent; and
29 WHEREAS, The Chicago Military Academy will celebrate its
30 first graduation of seniors on June 16, 2003 with
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1 approximately 85% its graduates already accepted for college
2 with scholarships; therefore, be it
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
5 we salute and honor Brigadier General Frank C. Bacon, Jr.
6 (Ret); and be it further
7 RESOLVED, That God's blessings be upon Brigadier General
8 Frank C. Bacon, Jr. (Ret) as he enters his retirement on June
9 30, 2003; and be it further
10 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
11 prepared and presented to Brigadier General Frank C. Bacon,
12 Jr. (Ret) as an expression of our respect and esteem.