Full Text of SR0737 97th General Assembly
SR0737 97TH 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
Ruben Avelar of Garland, Texas, who | 4 | | passed away on April 17, 2012; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar was born on August 8, 1927, in El | 6 | | Paso, Texas; his parents were Vicente and Nicolasa Avelar; he | 7 | | married his second wife, Martha, in September of 1959, in El | 8 | | Paso, Texas; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, As a child, Ruben Avelar and his family worked as | 10 | | migrant farmers in California; he graduated from Bowie High | 11 | | School in El Paso, Texas in 1945; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, After high school, Ruben Avelar joined the United | 13 | | States Army after VE Day during the closing months of World War | 14 | | II; after the end of the war, he saw overseas duty in post-war | 15 | | Korea to help keep the peace; in 1950, he was recalled into the | 16 | | Army as a second lieutenant in anti-aircraft artillery and | 17 | | served stateside both in California and at Fort Bliss; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, After his Army service, Ruben Avelar attended | 19 | | Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) | 20 | | and earned his bachelor's degree in economics; he later | 21 | | attended the University of Texas Law School; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar began his professional career in 1952 | 2 | | as a labor economist with the Texas Employment Commission; in | 3 | | 1958, he began working for the United States Department of | 4 | | Labor; drawing from his upbringing as a migrant worker, he | 5 | | passionately learned about the U.S. Department of Labor and the | 6 | | federal government's tracking and caring for the migrant | 7 | | segment of the labor force; shortly after joining the | 8 | | Department of Labor, he moved his family to West Memphis, | 9 | | Arkansas; in 1962, he was hired by the San Francisco Regional | 10 | | Office of the Department of Labor in the U.S. Employment | 11 | | Service Division; after serving as the interim Regional | 12 | | Administrator for the Dallas Regional Office of the Department | 13 | | of Labor, he accepted a permanent position as the Deputy | 14 | | Regional Administrator in Dallas, Texas; in August of 1972, he | 15 | | and his family moved to Garland, Texas; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar was heavily involved in community | 17 | | activism and service; while living in California, he helped | 18 | | form the San Francisco Civic Center Forum, a group that helped | 19 | | train local activists on the basics of tapping state and | 20 | | federal resources for any conceivable community need; he sought | 21 | | elective public office on the San Bruno City Council, as part | 22 | | of a successful effort to prevent the construction of an | 23 | | interstate highway through the San Bruno neighborhoods; later, | 24 | | while living in Garland, Texas, he began working to help |
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| 1 | | educate residents about high electric rates, and in the | 2 | | mid-1980s was appointed to the Utility Advisory Board by the | 3 | | Garland City Council; after his retirement from the federal | 4 | | government in 1988, he became an elected member of the Garland | 5 | | City Council; as a member of the council, he was influential in | 6 | | preventing high-stakes bingo from coming to Garland; in 1997, | 7 | | he was asked by his neighbors to return to the Garland City | 8 | | Council, and he won election to the District 4 seat of South | 9 | | Garland in May of that year; he retired from the council after | 10 | | serving 2 full terms; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar was a member of various local | 12 | | organizations, including the Garland AARP, the Garland chapter | 13 | | of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees, and | 14 | | the Dallas County Workforce Development Board; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar enjoyed travelling, fishing, and | 16 | | photography; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar was preceded in death by his | 18 | | daughter, Jacquelyn Celeste; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, Ruben Avelar is survived by his wife of 52 years, | 20 | | Martha; his sons, Andre' and Marc (Grace); his 2 grandchildren | 21 | | and 3 great-grandchildren; and his niece, Cecilia Farley | 22 | | (Bill); therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 2 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 3 | | his family and friends, the passing of Ruben Avelar; and be it | 4 | | further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 6 | | presented to the family of Ruben Avelar as an expression of our | 7 | | sympathy.
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