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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Thomas Dudley Ferguson of Oak Park, who
4passed away on March 16, 2014; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Thomas Ferguson was born in Hinsdale on August 23,
61938 to Mildred (nee Whitt) and James Carroll Ferguson; he was
7raised in La Grange and graduated from Cossitt Avenue
8Elementary School and Lyons Township High School; he married
9Carole Lindner Ferguson in 1959; he received his Bachelor of
10Arts and Master of Arts from the University of Illinois
11Champaign-Urbana in 1962; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Thomas Ferguson began his teaching career at
13Elmwood Park High School in 1962; in 1965, he and his family
14settled in Oak Park; he joined the Oak Park and River Forest
15High School (OPRF) history department in 1967, where he taught
16until his retirement in 1994; from 1986 to 1994 he served as
17chairman of the history department; in 1988, he started
18"Interpretations", an annual publication of the finest
19scholarly history writing by OPRF students; he was always
20delighted to hear from former students, who would stop him on
21the street decades later to tell him how much they had learned
22in his class; in 1970, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship
23to teach for a year at the Sherborne School in Sherborne,

 

 

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1Dorset, England, and, in the summer of 1971, the family
2embarked on a memorable 6-week-long camping trip through
3western Europe, Scandinavia, and the former Soviet Union; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Thomas Ferguson enjoyed jazz, photography, road
5trips, good food, family history, hometown newspapers, C-Span,
6the Civil War, old movies, tennis, and the White Sox; he and
7his wife traveled together to all 50 states, the Middle East,
8Costa Rica, and Canada; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Thomas Ferguson was preceded in death by his
10daughter, Christine; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Thomas Ferguson is survived by his wife, Carole;
12his daughters Sarah (William Neuman) and Heather (Annika
13Fjelstad); his beloved grandchildren, Max, Emma, and Romy
14Neuman and Josiah and Gabe Fjelstad Ferguson; and a large and
15loving extended family; therefore, be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
17ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
18Thomas Dudley Ferguson, and extend our sincere condolences to
19his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
20further
 
21    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

 

 

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1presented to the family of Thomas Ferguson as an expression of
2our deepest sympathy.