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91_SR0300
SDS/91Bsr0002/LTdo
1 SENATE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the Ninety-first
3 Illinois General Assembly are saddened to learn of the death
4 of Jeanne Hurley Simon on Sunday, February 20, 2000 at her
5 home in Makanda; and
6 WHEREAS, In recent years, Mrs. Simon gained national
7 prominence for her activism in promoting literacy, and is
8 remembered as a pioneer in fighting for the political
9 empowerment of women, as well as a full partner in the long
10 and distinguished public career of her husband, former United
11 States Senator Paul Simon, who is also a former member and
12 presiding officer of this body; and
13 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon and her husband were the first
14 husband-and-wife couple to serve together in the Illinois
15 General Assembly as members of the Illinois House of
16 Representatives; and
17 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon was born Jeanne C. Hurley in Chicago
18 on May 10, 1922, and grew up on the North Shore in an
19 Irish-Catholic, Democratic family; and
20 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon graduated from New Trier High School,
21 Barat College and Northwestern University Law School, when it
22 was rare for women to become lawyers, being admitted to the
23 Illinois Bar in 1948; and
24 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon was a highly regarded assistant Cook
25 County state's attorney from June 1953 to December 1956, and
26 served as president of the Women's Bar Association of
27 Illinois in the mid-1950s; and
28 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon was elected to the Illinois House in
29 1956 and re-elected in 1958 as a Democrat from Wilmette; and
30 WHEREAS, While serving in the Illinois House, Mrs. Simon
-2- SDS/91Bsr0002/LTdo
1 met Paul Simon, an independent Democratic colleague from
2 Downstate with a legislative voting record similar to her's;
3 and
4 WHEREAS, On their second date, Paul proposed and Mrs.
5 Simon accepted, and they were married on April 21, 1960; and
6 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon gave up her political career to raise
7 a family and become her husband's most trusted adviser and
8 fiercest ally in his long political career, which saw him
9 elected lieutenant governor in 1968, lose a gubernatorial bid
10 in 1972, elected to the United States House in 1974, and to
11 the United States Senate in 1984; and
12 WHEREAS, In 1988, Mrs. Simon played an active role in her
13 husband's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, and
14 in 1989 wrote Scarlett, a critically acclaimed book about her
15 experiences on a national campaign; and
16 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon was appointed by President Clinton as
17 chairwoman on the U.S. Commission on Libraries and
18 Information Service in 1993 and reappointed to that position
19 in 1997; and
20 WHEREAS, In that role, Mrs. Simon was a tireless advocate
21 for literacy and for improving reading levels of American
22 youth; and
23 WHEREAS, When Senator Simon retired from the U.S. Senate
24 in 1997, Mrs. Simon helped him establish the Southern
25 Illinois University Public Policy Institute at Carbondale and
26 joined the faculty as an adjunct professor of library
27 services; and
28 WHEREAS, Mrs. Simon is survived by her husband; her
29 daughter, Sheila; her son, Martin; and four grandchildren;
30 therefore be it
-3- SDS/91Bsr0002/LTdo
1 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIRST GENERAL
2 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, That we mourn the death of
3 Jeanne Hurley Simon; and be it further
4 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this preamble and
5 resolution be presented to the members of her family as an
6 expression of our sorrow for their loss.