093_SR0186

                                     LRB093 11984 RAH 16537 r

 1                          SENATE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, The members  of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of
 3    Illinois were saddened to learn of the death of John K "Jack"
 4    Powell of Naperville, on May 7, 2003; and

 5        WHEREAS,  A  native  of  New  Jersey, Mr. Powell attended
 6    Rutgers University for two years before entering World War II
 7    as a bombardier in the Army Air Forces; and

 8        WHEREAS, He returned to Rutgers  and  graduated  in  1948
 9    with a bachelor's degree in business; and

10        WHEREAS, That same year, he met Judith at a summer job in
11    Lake  Placid,  New  York,  and  they  married;  he worked for
12    insurance companies in New Jersey and New York before  moving
13    on  to insurance jobs in Dallas, Massachusetts, and Colorado;
14    the family returned to New Jersey in 1965; and

15        WHEREAS, A few years later the  Powell  family  moved  to
16    Naperville  when  Mr.  Powell  was named to head Metropolitan
17    Life  Insurance's  Midwest   region   real   estate   finance
18    department, headquartered in Oak Brook; he retired in 1985 as
19    vice  president  of  real estate investment and financing for
20    the Midwest region; and

21        WHEREAS, Through countless hours of volunteer work,  John
22    Powell  demonstrated  his enthusiasm for his adopted hometown
23    of Naperville; and

24        WHEREAS, In 1973, he began to work  with  the  Naperville
25    Heritage  Society  which  began  to  plat  and plan for Naper
26    Settlement; using his  talents  as  a  master  gardener,  Mr.
27    Powell  laid  out  the  landscaping and planted more than 200
28    trees and bushes; and

29        WHEREAS, Mr. Powell served as the third president of  the
30    Naperville Heritage Society from 1980 to 1982 and remained on
 
                            -2-      LRB093 11984 RAH 16537 r
 1    the board for a number of years; he also helped to secure the
 2    42  paintings by artist Les Schrader that depict Naperville's
 3    growth and development; and

 4        WHEREAS, Mr. Powell served on Edward Hospital's board  of
 5    directors  from  1987  to  1997;  as  an Evening Kiwanis Club
 6    member, he started the free  hospital  shuttle  that  Kiwanis
 7    subsidizes; and

 8        WHEREAS,  One  of  the  first  members  of  the Riverwalk
 9    Commission, Mr. Powell also volunteered for Books  on  Wheels
10    and  read  to first-graders at Scott School in Naperville; in
11    1993, he received the  Jaycees'  Outstanding  Senior  Citizen
12    award for his community efforts; and

13        WHEREAS,  Mr.  Powell  was  an elder in Knox Presbyterian
14    Church and volunteered extensively at the  Morton  Arboretum;
15    and

16        WHEREAS,  Even  with  all these pursuits, his passion was
17    his family; they traveled to Europe, China,  Russia,  Africa,
18    and  South  America  and took slides that he presented once a
19    month to the Ecumenical Adult Day Care Center for seniors  in
20    The Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community Center; and

21        WHEREAS,  The  passing  of John K. "Jack" Powell has been
22    deeply felt by all who knew him, especially his wife, Judith;
23    his sons, John K. Jr. and Ross; his brother, Thomas; and  his
24    four grandchildren; therefore be it

25        RESOLVED,  BY  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  NINETY-THIRD GENERAL
26    ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the  passing
27    of  John K. "Jack" Powell and express our sincere and deepest
28    sympathy to his family and friends; and be it further

29        RESOLVED, That a suitable  copy  of  this  resolution  be
30    presented  to  the  family  of  John  K.  "Jack" Powell as an
31    expression  of  our  condolences   during   their   time   of
 
                            -3-      LRB093 11984 RAH 16537 r
 1    bereavement.