Full Text of SR0781 101st General Assembly
SR0781 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Reverend Richard Billings of Oak Park, | 4 | | who passed away on February 18, 2019 at the age of 94; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings was born on August 30, 1924 on a | 6 | | farm near Wyandot, Ohio; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings completed grade school in a | 8 | | one-room schoolhouse; he went to high school in the town of | 9 | | Bucyrus and furthered his education at Ohio State University in | 10 | | Columbus, where he was drafted into military service; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings served three years of military | 12 | | service in the Pacific, where he was torpedoed and endured | 13 | | other horrors of war; he was discharged in January of 1946; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings finished his degree in fine arts | 15 | | and education while working as a waiter; he then worked in the | 16 | | fashion industry and became a high-fashion designer with a shop | 17 | | on Oak Street in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings sold the boutique shop and | 19 | | travelled to Unity Village in Missouri to train at the Unity | 20 | | School of Christianity, where he became an ordained Unity |
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| 1 | | minister; his ministry service took him to Santa Monica, | 2 | | California and Detroit and Lansing, Michigan, before he moved | 3 | | to Oak Park in the summer of 1967; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Reverend Billings served as minister of Unity of | 5 | | Oak Park for 50 years and taught at Unity School; he was | 6 | | responsible for the existence of four other Unity Centers in | 7 | | the Chicagoland area, as well as at least 50 liaison | 8 | | interventions throughout the U.S. "putting troubled centers | 9 | | back on course"; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, When Reverend Billings began his ministry in Oak | 11 | | Park, 35 people purchased a fixer-upper mansion intended to be | 12 | | the church's building; it was paid for, improved upon, and | 13 | | regularly drew an attendance of 400-500 congregants and had a | 14 | | mailing list of 1,800; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, During Reverend Billings ministry, Unity of Oak | 16 | | Park became a healing ministry, attracting people who wanted to | 17 | | improve themselves and their understanding of life; he took | 18 | | congregants on regular trips to at least 70 countries, taught | 19 | | at Unity School, and was a guest speaker for many centers, | 20 | | including at his good friend Johnnie Colman's center on the | 21 | | South Side; he spoke in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for | 22 | | a crowd of over 2,000 on three occasions, once with Maya | 23 | | Angelou; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Later in his life and due to health issues, | 2 | | Reverend Billings tailored his ministry to include counseling | 3 | | on Fridays and Saturdays; he continued to raise nearly $60,000 | 4 | | to help the center using "truth principles"; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, In September of 2017, Reverend Billings's tenure | 6 | | at the center ended; he penned a biography titled My Soul | 7 | | Remembers, where he writes, "For some of us, the search goes on | 8 | | half-heartedly; for others, it is a serious business. We all | 9 | | have our moments."; therefore, be it
| 10 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 11 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 12 | | Reverend Richard Billings and extend our sincere condolences to | 13 | | his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 14 | | further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 16 | | presented to the family of Reverend Richard Billings as an | 17 | | expression of our deepest sympathy.
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