HR1078 LRB095 20361 KXB 47729 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of former
4 State Representative Giddy Erwin Dyer of Davidson, North
5 Carolina, formerly of Hinsdale, who passed away on February 28,
6 2008; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Goudyloch Saffold Erwin was born May 28, 1919, in
8 Atlanta, Georgia, and spent her childhood in Davidson, North
9 Carolina; she was the daughter of the late Mary Louisa Browne
10 Erwin and former Davidson College English professor Edward
11 Jones Erwin; her brothers, George Pfifer Erwin and Edward Jones
12 Erwin, were both killed during World War II and her family
13 constructed a memorial building in their honor, Erwin Lodge,
14 which remains part of the campus of Davidson College; and
 
15     WHEREAS, After completing a year at then all-male Davidson
16 College, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Agnes Scott
17 College in Atlanta in 1938; she spent two years as an assistant
18 children's librarian at the New York City Public Library; while
19 living in Brooklyn, New York, she met and married Robert
20 Campbell Dyer, who preceded her in death in 2004 after 63 years
21 of marriage; and
 
22     WHEREAS, Following World War II, she and her husband moved

 

 

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1 to the Chicago area where she became active in local community
2 groups including Girl Scouts, the parent-teacher associations
3 at her children's schools, the American Association of
4 University Women, and the League of Women Voters; she also
5 wrote reviews of children's books for The Chicago Tribune;
6 through her involvement in the League of Women Voters, as well
7 as the National Council of Republican Workshops, she entered
8 politics in 1960 as the first woman elected to the DuPage
9 County Board of Commissioners; she held the office until 1968,
10 when she was elected to the first of six terms in the Illinois
11 House of Representatives; and
 
12     WHEREAS, As a State Representative, Giddy Dyer focused on
13 health, education, conservation, and issues affecting women
14 and children; she was chief Republican House sponsor of the
15 Equal Rights Amendment, and successfully pushed it through the
16 Illinois House in 1975; her many honors for her public service
17 included being named 1973 Woman of the Year by Illinois
18 Business and Professional Women, and in 1982, receiving the
19 Distinguished Alumna Award from both of her alma maters; and
 
20     WHEREAS, She served on many boards, including Planned
21 Parenthood of the Chicago Area and the Elmhurst College Board
22 of Trustees; she also served on the board to develop the
23 Davidson retirement community that became The Pines; through
24 most of her retirement, she maintained residences in both

 

 

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1 Davidson, North Carolina, and in Hinsdale, and was a talented
2 and devoted member of bridge clubs in both communities; and
 
3     WHEREAS, Giddy Erwin Dyer is survived by her son, Colin
4 Robert Campbell Dyer and wife, Janet; her daughter, Erwin
5 "Wynn" Avery Graham and husband, Michael; former
6 daughter-in-law, Marsha Dyer Kelly and husband, Chuck; her
7 granddaughter, Leigh Avery Dyer; her grandsons, Campbell
8 Robert Dyer and wife, Jen, Kelly Irl Dyer and wife, Anna, Galen
9 Avery Graham and wife, Amanda, William Erwin Reid Graham,
10 Robert "Ted" Edward Graham, and Kevin Milas Dyer; her
11 great-grandsons, Luke Campbell Robert Dyer and Finn Winston
12 Dyer; and her great-granddaughters, Ivy Greer Dyer and Brooke
13 Elizabeth Dyer; therefore, be it
 
14     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
15 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
16 mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of former
17 State Representative Giddy Erwin Dyer; and be it further
 
18     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
19 presented to the family of Giddy Erwin Dyer as a symbol of our
20 sincere sympathy.