SR1391 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1391 LRB101 22215 ECR 73245 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Colonel Jerry J. Felmley, formerly of Bloomington, who passed away on July 21, 2020; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was born to John B. and Beatrice S. Felmley in Bloomington in 1933; he graduated from Bloomington High School in 1950; he attended the University of Illinois, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta and graduated with a degree in civil engineering; he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force from Reserve Officer's Training Corps at the University of Illinois in 1955 and later joined the Air Force's Regular Officer Corps; he completed pilot training in Marana, Arizona; his early USAF assignments included over eight years of international flying from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina to Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East; his missions included the Hungarian airlift, the Suez crisis, support for the United Nations in Congo, and resupply for the South Pole's McMurdo Sound; during this time he met and married Jenrose Weldon; he completed a Master of Business Administration in 1965 under a special Air Force scholarship program for aerospace research and development managers at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley felt called to pursue active duty when the Vietnam War began; during the war, he was aircraft commander on aerospace rescue and recovery missions and flew from the Republic of Vietnam and Thailand; it was his Rescue C-130 tanker and communications aircraft that led the Jolly Green helicopter forces on the famous Son Tay POW rescue mission in November of 1970; after the war, he spent three years on the USAF's Air Staff in the Pentagon directing operation evaluation and analytic studies of new airlift aircraft; he was a distinguished graduate of the prestigious National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. and a member of that institution's faculty for two years; he spent his later career in senior management of Air Force research and development at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; he retired from the Air Force in 1981; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Meritorious Service Medals, seven Air Medals, and two Presidential Unit Citations; he was a command pilot with over 11,000 flying hours in 27 different aircraft and experience in all of the USAF's 4-engine transports operational between 1955 and 1980; and

WHEREAS, after his retirement from the Air Force, Colonel Jerry Felmley started Catalyst Associates, a consulting group doing work in aerospace research and development management; he worked for another decade before fully retiring; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley was an active member of numerous charitable and professional organizations, including the Air Force Association, the American Defense Preparedness Association, the Order of Daedalians, alumni associations of the Universities of Illinois and Chicago and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Phi Delta Theta national fraternity, the Green Valley Phi Delts, the Jolly Green Association, the booster clubs for both the USS Tucson and the USS Arizona submarines, and the Reid Park Zoological Society; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley loved to travel; in retirement, he was able to take many trips, including going to Moscow in 1994 as part of an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics technical exchange group, going to Hong Kong for the 1997 transition from British to Chinese control, and numerous Lindblad/National Geographic cruises from Alaska to Baja to the Antarctic; within the U.S., his favorite travel spots were Portland and San Diego to visit with crews of the subs stationed there and trips to see family in Bloomington, San Antonio, and Santa Fe; he also enjoyed bird watching the cactus wrens, doves, and quail who flocked to the feeders and water in the shady spot under the palo verde trees in his yard in Tucson, Arizona; and

WHEREAS, Colonel Jerry Felmley is survived by his three daughters, Melissa, Jennifer, and Amy; and his grandchildren, Catharine Rose, Conor, and James Nicholas; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Colonel Jerry J. Felmley and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Colonel Jerry Felmley as an expression of our deepest sympathy.