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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Northica Hillery-Stone of Bellwood, who
4passed away on May 16, 2018; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone graduated from Washington
6Elementary School and Proviso East High Schools in Maywood; she
7attended Roosevelt University, DePaul University, and Fisk
8University, and holds a certificate in Community Law from the
9John Marshall School of Law; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone was a lifelong member of
11the Second Baptist Church; at the age of 15, she was elected as
12director of the Second Baptist Adult Gospel Chorus and served
13in that position for over 25 years; she served in many other
14capacities, including Sunday school national delegate,
15soloist, president of the Hayden Memorial Scholarship
16Committee, Women's Day speaker, and seminar facilitator; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone was the longtime head of
18the nonprofit Operation Uplift, founded by her husband in 1968;
19and
 
20    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone was a longtime community
21activist, beginning as a charter member of Maywood's First

 

 

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1NAACP Youth Council; she represented the area at one of the
2first "Marches on Washington" rallies in 1949; she founded the
3West Town Museum of Cultural History in Maywood, where she
4served for decades as the chief archivist; the West Town opened
5in 1995 as a division of Operation Uplift and has become a
6gathering place for various community events and social
7functions; she and her staff were featured in the Chicago
8Tribune for discovering the Ten Mile Freedom House Underground
9Railroad site in Maywood and their efforts to erect a permanent
10memorial in Maywood; she was also responsible for obtaining a
11historic preservation status for the home and street where
12famed chemist Dr. Percy L. Julian lived while residing in
13Maywood, Percy L. Julian Way; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone and her husband, George,
15organized block clubs, and were active in local Boy Scout Troop
16123 and served as P.T.O parents; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone received many awards for
18her endeavors, including recognition from the Chicago United
19Way, Quaker Oats, the McDonald's Black Owners Association, the
20Mahogany Foundation, WVON The Talk of Chicago, the National
21Council of Negro Women, Dr. Dorothy Height, Congressman Danny
22K. Davis, the National Association of Colored Women and Aunt
23Jemima Brands, Cook Country Presidents' John H. Stroger Jr. and
24Toni Preckwinkle, the Osco Jewel Corps. Hidden Jewel of the

 

 

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1Community, Who's Who In American Executives, and former
2Presidents' George W. Bush and Bill Clinton; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Northica Hillery-Stone is the mother of two sons,
4the late Theophilous Scott Jr. and George Ellis Stone II;
5therefore, be it
 
6    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL
7ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
8Northica Hillery-Stone, and extend our sincere condolences to
9her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it
10further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12presented to the family of Northica Hillery-Stone as an
13expression of our deepest sympathy.