093_HR0178

                                     LRB093 11419 KEF 14112 r

 1                          HOUSE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, The members of the House of  Representatives  of
 3    the  State of Illinois were saddened to learn of the death of
 4    eight British soldiers and four United States Marines when  a
 5    CH-46  Sea  Knight  helicopter  crashed  in Kuwait about nine
 6    miles away from the  Iraqi border town of Umm Qasr  on  March
 7    20, 2003; and

 8        WHEREAS,  The four Marines are Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36,
 9    of Waterville, Maine;  Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of St.
10    Anne, Illinois; Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25,  of  Houston,
11    Texas;  and  Staff  Sgt.  Kendall  Damon  Watersbey,  29,  of
12    Baltimore, Maryland; and

13        WHEREAS,  Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, attached to the 1st
14    Marine  Expeditionary  Force   based   at   Camp   Pendleton,
15    California  was  a  hydraulics mechanic and the crew chief of
16    the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, was born on October 1,  1977
17    in  Evanston  Hospital  and  grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a
18    Chicago suburb of approximately 38,000 persons; and

19        WHEREAS, He graduated from Glenbrook South High School in
20    Glenview in 1995 where he  was  an  offensive  guard  on  the
21    football   team,   helping  the  team  reach  the  conference
22    championship game; as a junior, he played lacrosse,  competed
23    in track and was a member of the National Honor Society; and

24        WHEREAS,  He  studied  mechanical  engineering and played
25    lacrosse at Purdue  University,  transferred  to  Texas  Tech
26    University  in  1998,  and  joined the Marines in spring 1999
27    following in  the  footsteps  of  his  grandfather,  John  W.
28    Kennedy,  a Marine who served in Okinawa during World War II;
29    and

30        WHEREAS, He was based at Camp Pendleton,  California  and
31    planned  to return to Purdue University to study aeronautical
 
                           -2-       LRB093 11419 KEF 14112 r
 1    engineering; and

 2        WHEREAS, The passing of Cpl. Brian Matthew  Kennedy  will
 3    be  deeply  felt  by all who knew him, especially his father,
 4    Mark Kennedy; his mother, Melissa Derbyshire; and his sister,
 5    Gretchen Helgeson; therefore, be it

 6        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES   OF   THE
 7    NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
 8    together with his family, friends, educators, community,  and
 9    fellow  members  of  the United States Armed Forces, we mourn
10    the  death  of  Cpl.  Brian  Matthew  Kennedy,  who  will  be
11    remembered as a patriotic, brave and courageous  Marine,  and
12    offer our deepest sympathy to all who knew and loved him; and
13    be it further

14        RESOLVED,  That  a  suitable  copy  of this resolution be
15    presented to the family of Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy  as  an
16    expression of our sincerest condolences.