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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Helen Marie Ramirez-Odell of Chicago,
4who passed away on March 22, 2022; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell was born Helen Hershinow in
6Chicago on July 22, 1942; she grew up in the Lincoln Square
7neighborhood of Chicago; she received her Bachelor of Science
8in Nursing from Loyola University Chicago, becoming a
9Registered Nurse in 1964; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell worked as a school nurse in
11the Chicago Public Schools for over 40 years until her
12retirement in 2011; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell was a lifelong champion for
14women; when she discovered that she could not make a needed
15purchase from Goldblatt's in the late 1960s because they did
16not extend credit lines to women, her outrage led her to join
17the Chicago National Organization for Women (NOW) and to
18become an activist for the passage of the Equal Rights
19Amendment, a cause she championed until her passing; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell joined the Chicago Teachers
21Union in the 1970s and became a member of its Women's Rights

 

 

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1Committee, which she chaired for more than 20 years; during
2her tenure, the committee worked to end sexual harassment,
3supported women's advancement at the Washburne Trade School,
4sought to improve conditions and employment for women in
5sports, promoted women's labor history, supported women as
6political candidates, and fought for women's health, birth
7control, and reproductive choice, among many other issues; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell was a founder of the Women in
9Labor History Project in 1995, later called the Working
10Women's History Project (WWHP); during this time, she was also
11active in the Chicago Coalition of Labor Union Women and
12Cassandra: Radical Feminist Nurses Network; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell wrote and published Working
14Without Uniforms: School Nursing In Chicago 1951 – 2001; she
15also produced a manuscript titled RN Revolution Needed, which
16was about the need for a feminist transformation of the
17nursing profession; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Helen Ramirez-Odell will be especially remembered
19for her contributions to women's rights; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
21ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
22Helen Marie Ramirez-Odell and extend our sincere condolences

 

 

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1to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be
2it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
4presented to the family of Helen Ramirez-Odell as an
5expression of our deepest sympathy.