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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Elizabeth
4Ford, who passed away at the age of 93 on July 8, 2011; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Elizabeth Bloomer was born on April 8, 1918, in
6Chicago; she was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she
7displayed an early talent for dance and began to study
8seriously at the age of 14; her progress was such that, by the
9age of 20, she was offered tuition by the choreographer Martha
10Graham in New York, joined her teacher's auxiliary company for
11performances at Carnegie Hall, and worked as a fashion model to
12earn extra cash; she later moved back to the Michigan area at
13her mother's request; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Within a year, Elizabeth Bloomer had married an
15old school sweetheart and left home, though the marriage was
16soon ended by mutual consent; in 1948, she married Gerald Ford,
17a lawyer fresh out of the wartime Navy and just embarking on
18his political career in the United States House of
19Representatives; the couple would be married for 58 years,
20until his death in December of 2006; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In 1973, as Mrs. Ford was happily anticipating her
22husband's retirement from politics, Vice President Spiro T.

 

 

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1Agnew was forced out of office over bribery charges, which led
2President Richard Nixon to turn to Gerald Ford to fill the
3office; Less than a year later, on August 9, 1974, Gerald Ford
4was sworn in as the only chief executive in American history
5who had not been elected either president or vice president;
6Mrs. Ford wrote of her sudden ascent to First Lady: "It was
7like going to a party you're terrified of, and finding out to
8your amazement that you're having a good time"; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Betty Ford was 56 when she moved into the White
10House, and looked more matronly than modern; ever gracious, she
11tended to speak softly and slowly, even when taking a feminist
12stand; she used her newfound influence as the First Lady to
13lobby aggressively to speak against child abuse, raise money
14for handicapped children, espouse the rights of girls and
15women, and support the performing arts; and
 
16    WHEREAS, As a leader and advocate for the rights of women,
17Betty Ford won high praise for her courageous support of breast
18cancer awareness following her 1974 mastectomy; after the Fords
19left the White House in January of 1977, she also raised
20awareness of addiction problems with her announcement of her
21long-running battle with alcoholism and drug addiction; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Betty Ford used the unvarnished story of her own
23descent and recovery to crusade for better addiction treatment,

 

 

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1especially for women; she was a co-founder of the non-profit
2Betty Ford Center, located near the Fords' home in Rancho
3Mirage, California, in 1982; she raised millions of dollars for
4the center, kept close watch over its operations, and regularly
5welcomed groups of new patients; she was also a recipient of
6the Congressional Gold Medal (co-presentation with her
7husband, Gerald R. Ford, on October 21, 1998) and the
8Presidential Medal of Freedom (alone, presented in 1991 by
9President George H.W. Bush); and
 
10    WHEREAS, Betty Ford is survived by her children, Michael,
11John, Steven, and Susan Ford, and her many grandchildren and
12great-grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
15we mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of
16former First Lady Elizabeth Ford; and be it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18presented to the family of Betty Ford as a symbol of our
19sincere sympathy and respect for her service in the White House
20and as a private citizen.