HR0874 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0874 LRB093 21979 KEF 50231 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives wish to congratulate Judge Odas Nicholson, retired, on being honored as a 2004 Law Day Honoree by the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, May 1, 2004 is known as national Law Day to help promote the importance of the legal system in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Judge Odas Nicholson was born in Pickens, Mississippi and moved north to Chicago at the age of twelve following the death of her mother; after graduating from Marshall High School and Wilson Junior College she was accepted at the University of Chicago, School of Law, and the DePaul School of Law; in 1947, she was the only African American to graduate from the DePaul School of Law in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Her need to work while in school in order to finance her education is what inevitably prompted her enrollment at DePaul; presently, she has amassed over 53 years of distinguished service in the legal arena, having been admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1948; and

WHEREAS, From October 1949 to June of 1973, she represented the Supreme Life Insurance Company of America in all of its litigation in municipal, State, and Federal District Courts first as a Trial Attorney, next as the Assistant General Counsel and Assistant to the General Counsel of Supreme Life Insurance Company; and

WHEREAS, In 1969, Judge Nicholson was elected as a Delegate to the historic Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention from the 24th Senatorial District of Illinois; she served as the secretary of the convention and considers that one of her proudest moments; she also served with distinction as a member of the Judiciary Committee and chaired a Special Committee to disseminate information on the new Constitution to the voters of the State; and

WHEREAS, In 1980, she was elected to the Circuit Court of Cook County; she had previously resigned her position at the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, where she had been head of the Office of General Counsel for the Chicago and Kansas City Regions, in order to "rest a while"; instead, a friend convinced her to run for a State court judgeship; while on the bench, she handled everything from small claims cases, to juvenile cases, jury trials, and motions; she remained on the bench until her retirement in 1994; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Judge Odas Nicholson for being selected as a Law Day 2004 Honoree by the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church and for her lifetime of contributions to the legal community and to the citizens of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Judge Odas Nicholson as a token of our respect.