SR1208 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1208 LRB099 14575 GRL 38704 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Margaret Balbach, who passed away on September 17, 2015; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was born in 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana; her parents were John Kain and Marie LaPorte; she married Harold Balbach in 1961; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was educated at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she earned a bachelor's degree in biology; she later earned an A.M. degree from Radcliffe College; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach served as a professor at Emmanuel College for several years; while there, she received a National Science Foundation faculty award to attend Harvard University for a year, where she studied geology and paleontology; in 1960, she entered graduate school at the University of Illinois and there met and married her future husband; she received her doctorate in botany in 1964 and taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and then in Urbana, where she was the coordinator of the introductory botany course, which enrolled more than 1,000 students a year; she later taught at Eastern Illinois University; in 1972, she took a year to expand her knowledge of horticulture, completing numerous courses at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later at several extension locations; and

WHEREAS, In 1973, Margaret Balbach joined the Agriculture Department at Illinois State University and taught horticulture there until her retirement in 1994; she attained the rank of full professor of plant and soil science and founded their hort-business program, in which horticulture students minored in business so as to better integrate into the business aspects of prospective employers; she also created and taught numerous courses in horticulture and landscape and floral design and wrote a weekly column on these topics for the Bloomington Pantagraph from 1976 to 2006, followed by several years on the Internet at PegBalbach.com; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was a charter member of the Garden Writers of America and was a Certified Professional Horticulturalist through the American Society for Horticultural Science; she was also a Champaign County Master Naturalist; and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach was preceded in death by her parents; her brother; and her dear cousin, Mary Slaton (the actress, Dorothy Lamour); and

WHEREAS, Margaret Balbach is survived by her husband, Harold; her sister, Rosemary; and her 5 nieces and nephews; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with her family and friends, mourn the passing of Margaret Balbach; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Margaret Balbach as an expression of our sympathy.