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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are pleased to honor the achievements and | ||||||
| 4 | remarkable contributions of Illinois residents; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, Gus Lukis, a cobbler from the Chicago neighborhood | ||||||
| 6 | of Hyde Park, has run a shoe repair shop on 57th Street, Hyde | ||||||
| 7 | Park Shoe Rebuilders, for 51 years; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Lukis has earned unending respect from his | ||||||
| 9 | friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners for his | ||||||
| 10 | excellent disposition and his sense of family and community; | ||||||
| 11 | and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, During the 5 decades at the business he grew up | ||||||
| 13 | with and loved so much, Lukis has fixed everything from the | ||||||
| 14 | backpacks of University of Chicago students to the shoes of | ||||||
| 15 | Nobel
Prize winners; and
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| 16 | WHEREAS, Lukis moved from his Chicago birthplace in 1929 to | ||||||
| 17 | Leonidion, Greece when he was 6 months old; after surviving the | ||||||
| 18 | horrors of World War II as Leonidion was constantly bombed, he | ||||||
| 19 | returned to the United States as a young man in 1947; and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, At the age of 18, after living briefly in Los | ||||||
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| 1 | Angeles, Lukis returned to Chicago, where he learned to mend | ||||||
| 2 | shoes at his uncle's shoe repair shop in Hyde Park; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, Shortly after beginning work at his uncle's shop, | ||||||
| 4 | Gus met his future wife, Connie, with whom he spent 55 | ||||||
| 5 | wonderful years before her death in 2004; together, they raised | ||||||
| 6 | two sons, Jim and John; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, In 1959, Lukis and his uncle moved their shoe shop | ||||||
| 8 | to 57th Street; as a testament to his first-rate customer | ||||||
| 9 | service, his commitment to the business he loves, and the | ||||||
| 10 | loyalty of his Hyde Park residents, Gus is a neighborhood icon | ||||||
| 11 | and is familiarly known as the "Mayor of 57th Street"; | ||||||
| 12 | therefore, be it
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| 13 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 14 | NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 15 | congratulate Gus Lukis on the occasion of his 51 years on 57th | ||||||
| 16 | Street in Hyde Park and his dedication to the Hyde Park | ||||||
| 17 | community; and be it further
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| 18 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 19 | presented to Gus Lukis as a symbol of our respect and esteem.
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