SR0991 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0991 LRB100 15118 MST 29970 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Ruth Stamm Dear of Oak Park, who peacefully passed away March 31, 2017, at the age of 103; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was born in New York City to immigrants Anna and Simon Stamm on January 16, 1914; she attended Hunter College, where she majored in languages and was active in radical student movements and causes; it was during this time that she met her kindred spirit, George Dear, who was a Princeton University student; they moved to Chicago in 1937 and married in 1938; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear soon became a Gandhi pacifist, advocating for peace by participating in one-day strikes based on the Oxford Peace Pledge, while George worked for U. S. Steel's South Works plant and became a leader in the Steelworkers Union Local; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's civil rights activism began in the 1940s in Hyde Park; during this time, she also opposed World War II and was one of a small group who protested every Sunday at Chicago's Washington Park Open Forum in a court-ordered free speech area; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was active during the mid-1950s in the cooperative camp of Circle Pines Center in Michigan, which promoted peace, social justice, environmental stewardship, and cooperation; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was committed to the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Women Strike for Peace, Women for Peace, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear traveled to the Soviet Union in 1963 for an international peace meeting with North Vietnamese women; as the war in Vietnam escalated, she joined the Chicago Area Draft Resisters (CADRE); and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear moved to Oak Park in 1974, where she joined the newly formed Oak Park chapter of the War Resisters League; she helped organize the Metro West Peace Center, along with the annual Hiroshima Day Observance in Oak Park's Scoville Park; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was jailed at the age of 73 for her protest of militarism and nuclear proliferation at the Arlington Heights military base in August of 1987; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear participated in the Chicago Pledge of Resistance which opposed U.S. intervention in Central America; she worked for women's and older people's liberation with Women Mobilized for Change, Citizens for a Democratic Society, and the Gray Panthers; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear had a weekly radio program for the Gray Panthers, while covering other topics of interest, such as women's health and abortion rights; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear also published numerous articles in the Nonviolent Activist of the War Resisters League, WIN Magazine, and Hyde Park Kenwood Voices; her journals, publications, and letters are collected at the Gannon Center, Loyola University Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's political memoir, "You Can't Not Do It: The Journal of an Older Activist" was published in 2001; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear's life's work was being engaged in political movements for economic and social justice; she challenged racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, gender, and age oppression; she protested, demonstrated, and practiced civil disobedience for the public good; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear was preceded in death by her husband, George Dear; her parents; her brother; and other relatives; and

WHEREAS, Ruth Stamm Dear is survived by her niece, Karen Stamm and many other family members and friends; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Ruth Stamm Dear, and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Ruth Stamm Dear as an expression of our deepest sympathy.