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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Ellen M. Whitney of Springfield, who
4passed away on July 14, 2021; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Ellen Whitney was born to Reverend C.H. and Irene
6Whitehurst Todd in Evanston on March 13, 1920; she graduated
7from Greenville High School; she married Francis A. Whitney in
81940; she attended Southern Illinois University and finished
9third in the class of 1941; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Ellen Whitney worked for the International News
11Service as a reporter and as a teacher at Feitshens High
12School; she worked for 32 years at the Illinois State
13Historical Library; she was a historical research editor of
14the papers of the late Dr. George E. Black, which required more
15than a year of work; she noted that her most difficult
16assignment was editing the library's exhaustive collection of
17the Black Hawk War papers, which required many years of work
18and filled four volumes; as part of her work, she was called to
19Washington, D.C. to serve as an expert witness in a very
20difficult American Indian claims case from the Black Hawk War
21of 1832, which ended with a rare Native American victory; for
22her last major project, she was a compiler of Illinois
23History: An Annotated Bibliography with Janice A. Petterchak

 

 

SR0445- 2 -LRB102 19264 ECR 28030 r

1and Sandra Stark; and
 
2    WHEREAS, For her work on the Black Hawk War papers, Ellen
3Whitney earned a national reputation and awards from the
4American Association for state and local history and from the
5State Historical Society of Wisconsin; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Ellen Whitney was preceded in death by her
7husband; her parents; her brother, Harold Todd; and her
8sister, Grace Todd; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Ellen Whitney is survived by her one son, Blair
10(Rita) Whitney; her two grandchildren, Ruth (Ken) Antonoff and
11Helen Whitney; and her four great-grandchildren, Zachary and
12Chelsea Marek and Eva and Joseph Antonoff; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
14ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
15Ellen M. Whitney and extend our sincere condolences to her
16family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it
17further
 
18    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19presented to the family of Ellen Whitney as an expression of
20our deepest sympathy.