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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Margaret Balbach, who passed away on
4September 17, 2015; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was born in 1924 in New Orleans,
6Louisiana; her parents were John Kain and Marie LaPorte; she
7married Harold Balbach in 1961; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was educated at Emmanuel College
9in Boston, Massachusetts, where she earned a bachelor's degree
10in biology; she later earned an A.M. degree from Radcliffe
11College; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach served as a professor at Emmanuel
13College for several years; while there, she received a National
14Science Foundation faculty award to attend Harvard University
15for a year, where she studied geology and paleontology; in
161960, she entered graduate school at the University of Illinois
17and there met and married her future husband; she received her
18doctorate in botany in 1964 and taught at the University of
19Illinois at Chicago and then in Urbana, where she was the
20coordinator of the introductory botany course, which enrolled
21more than 1,000 students a year; she later taught at Eastern
22Illinois University; in 1972, she took a year to expand her

 

 

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1knowledge of horticulture, completing numerous courses at the
2University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later at several
3extension locations; and
 
4    WHEREAS, In 1973, Margaret Balbach joined the Agriculture
5Department at Illinois State University and taught
6horticulture there until her retirement in 1994; she attained
7the rank of full professor of plant and soil science and
8founded their hort-business program, in which horticulture
9students minored in business so as to better integrate into the
10business aspects of prospective employers; she also created and
11taught numerous courses in horticulture and landscape and
12floral design and wrote a weekly column on these topics for the
13Bloomington Pantagraph from 1976 to 2006, followed by several
14years on the Internet at PegBalbach.com; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was a charter member of the
16Garden Writers of America and was a Certified Professional
17Horticulturalist through the American Society for
18Horticultural Science; she was also a Champaign County Master
19Naturalist; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was preceded in death by her
21parents; her brother; and her dear cousin, Mary Slaton (the
22actress, Dorothy Lamour); and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach is survived by her husband,
2Harold; her sister, Rosemary; and her 5 nieces and nephews;
3therefore, be it
 
4    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
5ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with her
6family and friends, mourn the passing of Margaret Balbach; and
7be it further
 
8    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
9presented to the family of Margaret Balbach as an expression of
10our sympathy.