HR0503 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0503 LRB097 13142 KXB 57648 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate the City of Ottawa on the dedication of the Ottawa Radium Girls Memorial; and

WHEREAS, A statue of a radium worker will be dedicated on September 2, 2011 at the northwest corner of Clinton and Jefferson streets, the former home of Luminous Processes; the life-size statue is to serve as a memorial to the women who worked at the Radium Dial and Luminous Processes factories in Ottawa and consequently died from radium poisoning; and

WHEREAS, The bronze statue is of a woman holding flowers to symbolize hope and life in one hand and paintbrushes in the other; the statue was designed by Bill Piller, a Mendota sculptor; his daughter, Madeline, became fascinated with the story while researching a class project and began raising pledges to create the monument; and

WHEREAS, The Radium Girls were young women who worked at the Radium Dial and Luminous Processes factories in Ottawa, starting in 1922; young women were excited to work for Radium Dial: the workplace was nice, the work was fun, and the pay was great; and

WHEREAS, The women were paid by the piece to apply paint neatly and evenly to the numbers on clock faces; to ensure thin, even, accurate strokes, the dial painters were instructed to "point" the brush frequently by licking its end, not being aware that the radium used to make the paint glow would soon be discovered to be a very dangerous radioactive substance; they also had no idea that by lip pointing their brushes they were ingesting enough of it to cause painful, crippling cancers and death; and

WHEREAS, In 1925 Radium Dial became aware of the occupational danger of radium radiation exposure; Radium Dial workers were examined by the company, and although many women already showed signs of radium poisoning, they were never told; and

WHEREAS, In 1934, 7 women, who would become known as "The Society of the Living Dead," began a series of legal battles to win financial compensation for their radium poisoning; each one received small financial settlements; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the City of Ottawa on the dedication of the Ottawa Radium Girls Memorial and honor the brave women who fought to change working conditions in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the City of Ottawa as a symbol of our respect and esteem.