Full Text of HR1645 95th General Assembly
HR1645 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
HR1645 |
|
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 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 and State Senator, William "Bill" Shaw of | 5 |
| Dolton, who recently passed away; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, William "Bill" Shaw was born as a twin, July 31, | 7 |
| 1937 in Hope, Arkansas, to McKinley and Gertrude Shaw; he was | 8 |
| the fifth of six siblings; at an early age, the family | 9 |
| relocated to Chicago, where he completed his formal education | 10 |
| and continued his spiritual growth; as an adult, he united with | 11 |
| Grant Memorial AME Church; and
| 12 |
| WHEREAS, William and his wife Shirley raised three | 13 |
| children, Gina, Victor Andre, and Shawn, on Chicago's | 14 |
| Southside, providing them with love, as well as a first hand | 15 |
| taste for the political atmosphere of the day;
as a teen, | 16 |
| always working side by side with his twin, Robert, William | 17 |
| discovered a passion for politics and government; he took the | 18 |
| political astuteness he learned on Chicago's Westside and took | 19 |
| it with him when he relocated to the Southside; serving in | 20 |
| various positions in government over the years, William found | 21 |
| numerous avenues to help others; and
| 22 |
| WHEREAS, In 1982, after many years in local government, |
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 2 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| William Shaw was sworn into the State legislature as | 2 |
| Representative of the 34th District; after the re-districting | 3 |
| following the 1990 Census, he moved further south to the | 4 |
| Village of Dolton, where he successfully ran for the Illinois | 5 |
| Senate, representing the 15th District; at the urging of the | 6 |
| community, Senator Shaw ran for Mayor of Dolton and, in 1997, | 7 |
| was elected its first African-American mayor; in both houses of | 8 |
| the General Assembly, William Shaw worked tirelessly to pass | 9 |
| legislation that positively impacted the lives of his | 10 |
| constituents; one of the efforts he was most proud of was the | 11 |
| ground breaking legislation he and Senator Emil Jones passed | 12 |
| mandating that African-American history be taught in all | 13 |
| Illinois public schools; and
| 14 |
| WHEREAS, He served as a member of the Senate Energy & | 15 |
| Environment Committee and the Education Committee while at the | 16 |
| Statehouse; as a member of the Senate Local Government | 17 |
| Committee, he was instrumental in the redevelopment of the | 18 |
| Historic Pullman District on Chicago's Southside; he also | 19 |
| sponsored legislation that created the Illinois Donor Program | 20 |
| with the Illinois Secretary of State's Office; during his | 21 |
| tenure as Senator, he was truly one who brought home the bacon, | 22 |
| securing millions in funding that improved the quality of life | 23 |
| and services throughout the 15th District; the building of the | 24 |
| Melanie Fitness Center, a state-of-the-art health and fitness | 25 |
| center, was one such improvement; and
|
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 3 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| WHEREAS, William Shaw was most definitely a people person; | 2 |
| he loved gathering a group of politically aware people around | 3 |
| him to discuss, and often argue current political
issues; he | 4 |
| was a mentor, a teacher, a champion, and a father figure for | 5 |
| many aspiring to serve in government; as a legislator and mayor | 6 |
| he made youth, education, and health high priorities; his | 7 |
| desire was to provide computers for every school in his | 8 |
| district, and he did; and
| 9 |
| WHEREAS, As mayor, he founded the Mayor William "Bill" | 10 |
| Shaw's Youth Leadership Academy, which mentors junior and | 11 |
| senior high school students in the development of their public | 12 |
| service commitment; he awarded numerous scholarships to | 13 |
| college bound students, and donated Village land to the Park | 14 |
| District to build the Dolton Little League "Field of Dreams"; | 15 |
| near and dear to his heart was the Village's "Crossroads to | 16 |
| Health" Annual Cancer Walk, raising awareness for the need for | 17 |
| more funding to find a cure; the money raised goes to the | 18 |
| Jennifer S. Fallick Cancer Center, which provides social and | 19 |
| support services for families of cancer patients; and
| 20 |
| WHEREAS, Mayor Shaw was known to work across both party and | 21 |
| racial lines to bring about positive results; his desire was | 22 |
| that Dolton be a first class place for families to live; he was | 23 |
| a mayor with an open door policy; he was a hands-on leader who |
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 4 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| could often be seen riding through the Village checking on the | 2 |
| community he loved; during snow season, it was not unusual to | 3 |
| see him behind the wheel of a truck plowing the streets, which | 4 |
| made his family and staff very nervous; and | 5 |
| WHEREAS, The phrase "Home Is Where the Heart Is" described | 6 |
| Mayor Shaw's consummate love for Dolton; he believed in | 7 |
| inclusion and appointed the Village's first African-American | 8 |
| police chief, the first female and African-American village | 9 |
| attorney, and the first African-American chief of staff; he had | 10 |
| the village build a beautiful waterfall at the corner of | 11 |
| Lincoln and Park, held the summer Cascade of Jazz events in | 12 |
| front of the village hall, and encouraged numerous businesses | 13 |
| to make Dolton their home; and
| 14 |
| WHEREAS, His dynamic, visionary leadership, coupled with | 15 |
| his passion for seniors, led him to secure funding to modernize | 16 |
| the Dorchester Senior Center and Banquet Facility; his most | 17 |
| recent success was securing a contract with Food-4-Less | 18 |
| supermarket to locate at Sibley and Greenwood, where | 19 |
| construction is now in progress; and
| 20 |
| WHEREAS, Mayor Shaw's concern for global issues has always | 21 |
| been evident; he and the Village frequently hosted Mayor Kofi | 22 |
| Adjei Ntim of Kadjebi, Ghana, Dolton's sister city; many | 23 |
| discussions centered on how Dolton could help build a library |
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 5 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| for their children; in 2007, Mayor Shaw sent a delegation of | 2 |
| four to Ghana to better understand their culture and customs, | 3 |
| as well as attend their 50th anniversary of independence from | 4 |
| British rule; in the late 1990s, Mayor Shaw welcomed to the | 5 |
| Village another African dignitary, His Royal Highness, Oba | 6 |
| Aromolaran II, Owa of Ijeshaland, Nigeria; and
| 7 |
| WHEREAS, Just days after catastrophic Hurricane Katrina | 8 |
| blasted New Orleans and surrounding areas, Mayor Shaw organized | 9 |
| a relief effort that provided twenty-two
truckloads of food and | 10 |
| supplies to the victims; he held a similar drive to provide | 11 |
| help for the victims of Haiti's devastating flood; and
| 12 |
| WHEREAS, An avid golfer, and to let him tell it, "the best | 13 |
| in Illinois", Mayor Shaw was known to challenge all comers; in | 14 |
| his retirement from the legislature, he spent a good portion of | 15 |
| his time with his twin brother and friends accompanying him to | 16 |
| various golf courses around Chicago, or to his Orlando home, to | 17 |
| enjoy the sun and shoot a few rounds; and
| 18 |
| WHEREAS, Well-known as culinary experts, he and Robert had | 19 |
| daily and weekly cook-off competitions on recipes from the Food | 20 |
| Channel; of the two, the Mayor was indeed the better golfer, | 21 |
| but despite the mayor's denial, his twin brother Robert holds | 22 |
| the cook-off title; and
|
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 6 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| WHEREAS, Mayor William Shaw often spoke of how blessed he | 2 |
| was; he began his journey in Hope, Arkansas, and took his final | 3 |
| bow in Dolton, Illinois; all the critically important work he | 4 |
| did in-between allowed him to leave behind an impressive | 5 |
| legacy; his accomplishments are forever etched in time; when | 6 |
| God called his name, Mayor Shaw passed away quietly in his | 7 |
| Dolton home; and
| 8 |
| WHEREAS, His parents, as well as three brothers, preceded | 9 |
| him in death; he was also preceded in death by Melanie Green, | 10 |
| for whom he was a loving father figure; and
| 11 |
| WHEREAS, At his time of his passing and by his side were | 12 |
| his long time and truly dedicated companion, Ms. Deborah Green; | 13 |
| his twin brother and closet confidant, Commissioner Robert | 14 |
| Shaw; and his faithful son, Victor Andre Shaw; along with | 15 |
| those, Mayor Shaw is survived by his sister, Bobby Shaw Brown; | 16 |
| his daughter, Gina; his son, Shawn; his granddaughters, Ashley | 17 |
| Staples and Asante Norton; his grandson and namesake, William | 18 |
| "Little Bill" Skyler Shaw; as well as a hundreds of other | 19 |
| family members and friends; therefore, be it
| 20 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 21 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 22 |
| mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of | 23 |
| William "Bill" Shaw; and be it further
|
|
|
|
HR1645 |
- 7 - |
LRB095 23116 GRL 53749 r |
|
| 1 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 |
| presented to the loved ones of William "Bill" Shaw as a symbol | 3 |
| of our sincere sympathy.
|
|