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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Colonel Jerry J. Felmley, formerly of
4Bloomington, who passed away on July 21, 2020; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was born to John B. and
6Beatrice S. Felmley in Bloomington in 1933; he graduated from
7Bloomington High School in 1950; he attended the University of
8Illinois, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta and
9graduated with a degree in civil engineering; he was
10commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force from Reserve
11Officer's Training Corps at the University of Illinois in 1955
12and later joined the Air Force's Regular Officer Corps; he
13completed pilot training in Marana, Arizona; his early USAF
14assignments included over eight years of international flying
15from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina to Europe,
16South America, Africa and the Middle East; his missions
17included the Hungarian airlift, the Suez crisis, support for
18the United Nations in Congo, and resupply for the South Pole's
19McMurdo Sound; during this time he met and married Jenrose
20Weldon; he completed a Master of Business Administration in
211965 under a special Air Force scholarship program for
22aerospace research and development managers at the University
23of Chicago's Graduate School of Business; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley felt called to pursue active
2duty when the Vietnam War began; during the war, he was
3aircraft commander on aerospace rescue and recovery missions
4and flew from the Republic of Vietnam and Thailand; it was his
5Rescue C-130 tanker and communications aircraft that led the
6Jolly Green helicopter forces on the famous Son Tay POW rescue
7mission in November of 1970; after the war, he spent three
8years on the USAF's Air Staff in the Pentagon directing
9operation evaluation and analytic studies of new airlift
10aircraft; he was a distinguished graduate of the prestigious
11National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed
12Forces in Washington, D.C. and a member of that institution's
13faculty for two years; he spent his later career in senior
14management of Air Force research and development at Wright
15Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; he retired from the Air Force
16in 1981; and
17    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was awarded the Legion of
18Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Meritorious
19Service Medals, seven Air Medals, and two Presidential Unit
20Citations; he was a command pilot with over 11,000 flying hours
21in 27 different aircraft and experience in all of the USAF's
224-engine transports operational between 1955 and 1980; and
 
 
23    WHEREAS, after his retirement from the Air Force, Colonel
24Jerry Felmley started Catalyst Associates, a consulting group

 

 

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1doing work in aerospace research and development management; he
2worked for another decade before fully retiring; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was an active member of
4numerous charitable and professional organizations, including
5the Air Force Association, the American Defense Preparedness
6Association, the Order of Daedalians, alumni associations of
7the Universities of Illinois and Chicago and the Industrial
8College of the Armed Forces, the Phi Delta Theta national
9fraternity, the Green Valley Phi Delts, the Jolly Green
10Association, the booster clubs for both the USS Tucson and the
11USS Arizona submarines, and the Reid Park Zoological Society;
12and
 
13    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley loved to travel; in
14retirement, he was able to take many trips, including going to
15Moscow in 1994 as part of an American Institute of Aeronautics
16and Astronautics technical exchange group, going to Hong Kong
17for the 1997 transition from British to Chinese control, and
18numerous Lindblad/National Geographic cruises from Alaska to
19Baja to the Antarctic; within the U.S., his favorite travel
20spots were Portland and San Diego to visit with crews of the
21subs stationed there and trips to see family in Bloomington,
22San Antonio, and Santa Fe; he also enjoyed bird watching the
23cactus wrens, doves, and quail who flocked to the feeders and
24water in the shady spot under the palo verde trees in his yard

 

 

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1in Tucson, Arizona; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley is survived by his three
3daughters, Melissa, Jennifer, and Amy; and his grandchildren,
4Catharine Rose, Conor, and James Nicholas; therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
6ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
7Colonel Jerry J. Felmley and extend our sincere condolences to
8his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
9further
 
10    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
11presented to the family of Colonel Jerry Felmley as an
12expression of our deepest sympathy.