[ Search ] [ Legislation ] [ Bill Summary ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
90_HR0232
LRB9006951KBkb
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The city of Centralia, Illinois honors many of
3 its citizens with induction into the Centralia Hall of Fame;
4 and
5 WHEREAS, William H. Walker, a distinguished member of the
6 community, was recently selected for induction into the Hall
7 of Fame; William Walker was born June 6, 1915 in Carbondale,
8 Illinois; in 1943 he married Viola Crum; they are the proud
9 parents of William H. Walker, Jr.; and
10 WHEREAS, In 1929 William Walker graduated from Attucks
11 Grade School; in 1933 he graduated from Attucks High School;
12 in 1937 he graduated from Southern Illinois Teacher's College
13 in Carbondale with Majors in Chemistry, Geography, and
14 Education with a Bachelor of Education degree; in 1948 he
15 received his Master of Arts in Education from Southern
16 Illinois University; his post-graduate work was done in the
17 area of school administration, mathematics, and science at
18 SIU Carbondale; and
19 WHEREAS, In 1940, William Walker applied for admission to
20 Pilot Training; after the application was returned, stating
21 that there was no program in existence for Negro pilots, Mr.
22 Walker entered the Army Engineers at Fort Belvoir, Virginia;
23 in the spring of 1942, he was accepted for officers' training
24 from the ranks of Ft. Belvoir; in May of 1942 William Walker
25 was sent to Tuskegee, Alabama, from Engineer Officer Training
26 School; and
27 WHEREAS, William Walker was a member of the Olivet
28 Freewill Baptist Church in Carbondale, Illinois where he was
29 baptized at the age of fourteen; in 1948 he became a member
30 of the Second Baptist Church, where he was ordained a Deacon
31 in 1953; and
-2- LRB9006951KBkb
1 WHEREAS, William Walker is a Life Member of Illinois
2 Principal's Association and National Education Association;
3 he is a member of the Centralia Rotary Club and became a Paul
4 Harris Fellow in 1988; he is a member of Kaskaskia Workshop
5 Board and Finance Chairman; in 1976 he received the Jaycees
6 Outstanding Citizen Award; and
7 WHEREAS, HBO recently ran a movie entitled "The Tuskegee
8 Airmen"; William Walker was one of those 450 black men who
9 flew over Europe during World War II, overcoming many
10 obstacles to defend their country; the many students taught
11 by William Walker as Principal of Lincoln Grade School in
12 Centralia for twenty-seven years watched with pride as they
13 remembered this great man; and he watched and remembered the
14 hardships he had to face to become a Tuskegee Airman;
15 therefore, be it
16 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
17 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
18 salute William H. Walker of Centralia, Illinois, as he
19 becomes a new addition to the Centralia Hall of Fame; and be
20 it further
21 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
22 presented to William H. Walker.