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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of E. Leslie | ||||||
| 4 | "Les" Conkling of Kempton, who passed away on September 16, | ||||||
| 5 | 2014; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling was born in Princeton on December 20, | ||||||
| 7 | 1931 to Howard and Elna Mae (nee Sparling) Conkling; he | ||||||
| 8 | graduated in 1949 from Princeton High School; he received his | ||||||
| 9 | Associate's Degree from Ogelsby Junior College and his Bachelor | ||||||
| 10 | Degree in Teacher Education from Northern Illinois University; | ||||||
| 11 | he did his post-graduate work at Indiana University and | ||||||
| 12 | Louisiana Tech University and received his Master of Education | ||||||
| 13 | from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana; he married | ||||||
| 14 | Sandra J. Jacobs on June 6, 1956 in Dekalb; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling was a teacher, coach, and principal | ||||||
| 16 | for the Kempton-Cabery and Tri-Point School district for 30 | ||||||
| 17 | years, retiring in May of 1990; he coached high school football | ||||||
| 18 | at Kempton-Cabery High School and was the first high school | ||||||
| 19 | football coach and principal for the newly consolidated | ||||||
| 20 | Tri-Point High School in 1969; he coached basketball, track, | ||||||
| 21 | and baseball for Tri-Point Schools; he was also a coach for | ||||||
| 22 | Kempton-Cabery Little League baseball and led the | ||||||
| 23 | Kempton-Cabery Colts Summer League Baseball Team to multiple | ||||||
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| 1 | championships; and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling was very active with the Republican | ||||||
| 3 | Party; he was the Ford County Republican Precinct Committeeman | ||||||
| 4 | of Mona Township from 1974 to 2004 and the Ford County | ||||||
| 5 | Republican Chairman from 1978 to 1998; he was the Secretary of | ||||||
| 6 | the Illinois Republican County Chairman's Association from | ||||||
| 7 | 1986 to 1990 and served as an Illinois State Representative | ||||||
| 8 | from July of 1991 to January of 1993 for the old 87th District; | ||||||
| 9 | he served his community by being both a member of the Kempton | ||||||
| 10 | Village Board and Kempton Fire Department for over 30 years; | ||||||
| 11 | and | ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, After retirement from education, Les Conkling | ||||||
| 13 | worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation for over 9 | ||||||
| 14 | years, retiring in December of 2002; and | ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling enjoyed skiing, fly fishing, and | ||||||
| 16 | following his Fighting Illini; he also enjoyed reading, | ||||||
| 17 | traveling, and was most passionate when working with youth, | ||||||
| 18 | coaching, and volunteering; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling was preceded in death by his wife, | ||||||
| 20 | Elna and his parents; and
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| 21 | WHEREAS, Les Conkling is survived by his children, Ted | ||||||
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| 1 | (Valerie) and Howard (Mary); his grandchildren, Danielle | ||||||
| 2 | (Andrew) Donley, Ian Conkling, Brooke (Ben) Carton, Emily | ||||||
| 3 | Conkling, and Michael Conkling; and his great-grandchildren, | ||||||
| 4 | Alexis and Wade Donley; therefore, be it
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| 5 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 6 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 7 | we mourn the passing of E. Leslie "Les" Conkling, and extend | ||||||
| 8 | our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who | ||||||
| 9 | knew and loved him; and be it further
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| 10 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 11 | presented to the family of Les Conkling as an expression of our | ||||||
| 12 | deepest sympathy.
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