Full Text of HR1662 95th General Assembly
HR1662 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of former | 4 |
| State Representative and State Senator, William "Bill" Shaw of | 5 |
| Dolton, who recently passed away; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, William "Bill" Shaw was born as a twin, July 31, | 7 |
| 1937 in Hope, Arkansas, to McKinley and Gertrude Shaw; he was | 8 |
| the fifth of six siblings; at an early age, the family | 9 |
| relocated to Chicago, where he completed his formal education | 10 |
| and continued his spiritual growth; as an adult, he united with | 11 |
| the Grant Memorial AME Church; and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw and his wife, Shirley, raised three | 13 |
| children, Gina, Victor Andre, and Shawn, on Chicago's | 14 |
| Southside, providing them with love and a first hand taste for | 15 |
| the political atmosphere of the day;
as a teen, always working | 16 |
| side by side with his twin, Robert, William discovered a | 17 |
| passion for politics and government; he took the political | 18 |
| astuteness he learned on Chicago's Westside with him when he | 19 |
| relocated to the Southside; serving in various positions in | 20 |
| government over the years, William found numerous avenues to | 21 |
| help others; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1982, after many years in local government, |
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| William Shaw was sworn into the State legislature as | 2 |
| Representative of the 34th District; after the re-districting | 3 |
| following the 1990 Census, he moved further south to the | 4 |
| Village of Dolton, where he successfully ran for the Illinois | 5 |
| Senate, representing the 15th District; at the urging of the | 6 |
| community, Senator Shaw ran for Mayor of Dolton and, in 1997, | 7 |
| was elected the village's first African-American mayor; he | 8 |
| worked tirelessly in both houses of the General Assembly to | 9 |
| pass legislation that positively impacted the lives of his | 10 |
| constituents, including legislation that created the Illinois | 11 |
| Donor Program within the Illinois Secretary of State's office; | 12 |
| one of the efforts he was most proud of was the ground breaking | 13 |
| legislation he and Senator Emil Jones passed mandating that | 14 |
| African-American history be taught in all Illinois public | 15 |
| schools; and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw served as a member of the Senate | 17 |
| Environment & Energy Committee and the Education Committee | 18 |
| while at the Statehouse; as a member of the Senate Local | 19 |
| Government Committee, he was instrumental in the redevelopment | 20 |
| of the Historic Pullman District on Chicago's Southside; during | 21 |
| his tenure as Senator, he was truly one who brought home the | 22 |
| bacon, securing millions in funding that improved the quality | 23 |
| of life and services throughout the 15th District, including | 24 |
| the building of the Melanie Fitness Center, a state-of-the-art | 25 |
| health and fitness center; and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw was well known as a people person who | 2 |
| loved gathering a group of politically aware people around him | 3 |
| to discuss, and often argue, current political
issues; he was a | 4 |
| mentor, a teacher, a champion, and a father figure for many | 5 |
| aspiring to serve in government; as a legislator and mayor he | 6 |
| made youth, education, and health issues high priorities; his | 7 |
| desire was to provide computers for every school in his | 8 |
| district, which he did; and
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| WHEREAS, As mayor of Dolton, William Shaw founded the Mayor | 10 |
| William "Bill" Shaw's Youth Leadership Academy, which mentors | 11 |
| junior and senior high school students in the development of | 12 |
| their public service commitment; he awarded numerous | 13 |
| scholarships to college bound students and donated Village land | 14 |
| to the Park District to build the Dolton Little League "Field | 15 |
| of Dreams"; near and dear to his heart was the Village's | 16 |
| "Crossroads to Health" Annual Cancer Walk, raising awareness | 17 |
| for the need for more funding to find a cure; the money raised | 18 |
| goes to the Jennifer S. Fallick Cancer Center, which provides | 19 |
| social and support services for families of cancer patients; | 20 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw was known to work across both party | 22 |
| and racial lines to bring about positive results; his desire | 23 |
| was that Dolton be a first class place for families to live; he |
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| was a mayor with an open door policy and a hands-on leader who | 2 |
| could often be seen riding through the Village checking on the | 3 |
| community he loved; during snow season, it was not unusual to | 4 |
| see him behind the wheel of a truck plowing the streets, a feat | 5 |
| that made his family and staff very nervous; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, The phrase "Home Is Where the Heart Is" described | 7 |
| William Shaw's consummate love for Dolton; he believed in | 8 |
| inclusion and appointed the Village's first African-American | 9 |
| police chief, the first female and African-American village | 10 |
| attorney, and the first African-American chief of staff; he had | 11 |
| the village build a beautiful waterfall at the corner of | 12 |
| Lincoln and Park, held the summer Cascade of Jazz events in | 13 |
| front of the village hall, and encouraged numerous businesses | 14 |
| to make Dolton their home; and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw's dynamic, visionary leadership, | 16 |
| coupled with his passion for seniors, led him to secure funding | 17 |
| to modernize the Dorchester Senior Center and Banquet Facility; | 18 |
| his most recent success was securing a contract with | 19 |
| Food-4-Less supermarket to locate at Sibley and Greenwood, | 20 |
| where construction is now in progress; and
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| WHEREAS, William Shaw's concern for global issues has | 22 |
| always been evident; he and the Village frequently hosted Mayor | 23 |
| Kofi Adjei Ntim of Kadjebi, Ghana, Dolton's sister city; many |
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| discussions centered on how Dolton could help build a library | 2 |
| for their children; in 2007, Mayor Shaw sent a delegation of | 3 |
| four to Ghana to better understand their culture and customs, | 4 |
| as well as attend their 50th anniversary of independence from | 5 |
| British rule; in the late 1990s, Mayor Shaw welcomed to the | 6 |
| Village another African dignitary, His Royal Highness, Oba | 7 |
| Aromolaran II, Owa of Ijeshaland, Nigeria; and
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| WHEREAS, Just days after catastrophic Hurricane Katrina | 9 |
| blasted New Orleans and its surrounding areas, William Shaw | 10 |
| organized a relief effort that provided twenty-two
truckloads | 11 |
| of food and supplies to the victims; he held a similar drive to | 12 |
| provide help for the victims of Haiti's devastating flood; and
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| WHEREAS, An avid golfer, and to let him tell it, "the best | 14 |
| in Illinois", William Shaw was known to challenge all comers; | 15 |
| in his retirement from the legislature, he spent a good portion | 16 |
| of his time with his twin brother and friends accompanying him | 17 |
| to various golf courses around Chicago, or to his Orlando home, | 18 |
| to enjoy the sun and shoot a few rounds; and
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| WHEREAS, Well-known as culinary experts, William Shaw and | 20 |
| his brother Robert had daily and weekly cook-off competitions | 21 |
| on recipes from the Food Channel; of the two, the Mayor was | 22 |
| indeed the better golfer, but despite the mayor's denial, his | 23 |
| twin brother Robert holds the cook-off title; and
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| WHEREAS, Mayor William Shaw often spoke of how blessed he | 2 |
| was; he began his journey in Hope, Arkansas, and took his final | 3 |
| bow in Dolton, Illinois; all the critically important work he | 4 |
| did in-between allowed him to leave behind an impressive | 5 |
| legacy; his accomplishments are forever etched in time; when | 6 |
| God called his name, Mayor Shaw passed away quietly in his | 7 |
| Dolton home; and
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| WHEREAS, His parents, as well as three brothers, preceded | 9 |
| him in death; he was also preceded in death by Melanie Green, | 10 |
| for whom he was a loving father figure; and
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| WHEREAS, At his time of his passing and by his side were | 12 |
| his long time and truly dedicated companion, Ms. Deborah Green; | 13 |
| his twin brother and closet confidant, Commissioner Robert | 14 |
| Shaw; and his faithful son, Victor Andre Shaw; he is also | 15 |
| survived by his sister, Bobby Shaw Brown; his daughter, Gina; | 16 |
| his son, Shawn; his granddaughters, Ashley Staples and Asante | 17 |
| Norton; his grandson and namesake, William "Little Bill" Skyler | 18 |
| Shaw; and his hundreds of other family members and friends; | 19 |
| therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 21 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 22 |
| mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of |
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| William "Bill" Shaw; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 3 |
| presented to the family of William "Bill" Shaw as a symbol of | 4 |
| our sincere sympathy.
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