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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois learned with deep sadness of the death of
4 their former colleague, State Senator Margaret Smith of
5 Chicago, on Monday, May 16, 2005; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Senator Smith served 22 years in the Illinois
7 General Assembly; she was elected to the House of
8 Representatives in 1980 and served one two-year term there; in
9 1982, she was elected to the Senate; she was re-elected to the
10 Senate six times and served as Senator for 20 years, retiring
11 from the Senate in December of 2002; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Her late husband, Fred, served in the General
13 Assembly for 36 years, from 1943 to 1979; the Smiths were
14 married in 1955; and
 
15     WHEREAS, In the General Assembly, Margaret Smith was
16 nationally recognized for her support of women's health care
17 and health care affecting children, infants, and the poor; for
18 nearly a decade, she served as chairperson of the influential
19 Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Corrections committee,
20 guiding some of the most pressing and sweeping legislation on
21 health care through her committee, much of which served as a
22 model for the nation; she also sponsored legislation requiring
23 the State to cover mammograms for poor women and requiring
24 insurance companies to cover mammograms; and
 
25     WHEREAS, Many health care organizations recognized her
26 efforts on health care issues; she received the coveted
27 "Legislator of the Year Award" from every major health care
28 organization in the State, including the Illinois Nurses
29 Association, the Illinois Hospital Association, and the
30 Illinois Health Care Association; and
 

 

 

HR0464 - 2 - LRB094 12409 HSS 46720 r

1     WHEREAS, In the Senate, she also was a leader in promoting
2 African-American history in Illinois; she authored the
3 legislation commissioning the sculpture of statues of Adelbert
4 H. Roberts and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the
5 portrait of her late husband, Fred J. Smith; and
 
6     WHEREAS, An extensive traveler, Senator Smith visited
7 Africa nine times and had been to Europe and Asia, as well as
8 traveling throughout the United States; many of her travels
9 were done as part of missionary work she did on behalf of the
10 Foreign Mission Bureau of the National Baptist Convention; in
11 honor of her efforts, a school In Haiti was named after her;
12 and
 
13     WHEREAS, A graduate of DuSable High School, she graduated
14 from Tennessee State University in Nashville and has an
15 honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the Chicago Baptist
16 Institute; she was a member of the Bethesda Baptist Church,
17 Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and the Metropolitan Business
18 Professional Women; she was a board member of the Ada S.
19 McKinley Foundation and the Beatrice Caffrey Youth Center;
20 therefore, be it
 
21     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
22 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
23 we mourn the passing of State Senator Margaret Smith, a woman
24 who demonstrated a devotion to the needs of others in the
25 General Assembly and in her day-to-day life; and be it further
 
26     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to her family as an expression of our sincere
28 condolences for the loss of their loved one and our friend.