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LRB093 22901 HSS 52753 r






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SENATE RESOLUTION


 
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    WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois 
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learned with regret of the death of Sharon L. Merritt on 
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Saturday, July 10, 2004; and
 

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    WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt was born in Chicago; she graduated 
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from St. Louis University with a bachelor's degree in nursing 
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in 1962; she moved to California and received her master's in 
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nursing from the University of California, San Francisco, in 
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1964; that same year, she met her future husband at a party; 
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they had their first date on a Thursday, their second the next 
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day, and on Sunday Frank J. Merritt proposed to her; they were 
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married four months later; and
 

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    WHEREAS, The Merritts moved to St. Louis in 1971 and Mrs. 
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Merritt taught nursing at Southern Illinois University in 
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Edwardsville; she earned her PhD in education at the University 
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of Missouri-St. Louis in 1982, while continuing to teach; in 
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1987, the Merritts moved to Hinsdale and she took an associate 
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professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and
 

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    WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt worked for years with people with 
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sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea; she also 
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directed the Center for Narcolepsy Research at the University 
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of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing; her concentration 
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was on pupillometry, the science of measuring eye pupil size, 
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which can clinically determine sleepiness; her research 
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validated that the sleepier a person gets, the smaller their 
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pupils become; the four-year study on pupillometry will be 
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published soon; and
 

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    WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt is remembered as a hands-on director 
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and was good at hiring quality personnel; and
 

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    WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt played tennis, a sport she started at 
 


 






SR0644
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LRB093 22901 HSS 52753 r




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age 34; and
 

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    WHEREAS, The passing of Sharon L. Merritt has been deeply 
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felt by many, especially her husband, Frank J. Merritt; her 
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daughters, Michelle and Melissa; her sisters, Colette Loecke 
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and Joyce Spizzirri; her brother, Louis Spizzirri; and her 
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three grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
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    RESOLVED, BY THE  SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL 
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ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of 
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Sharon L. Merritt, and we extend our deepest sympathy to her 
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family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it 
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further

 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to the family of Sharon L. Merritt as an expression 
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of our sincerest condolences for their loss.