Full Text of SR0813 96th General Assembly
SR0813 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
SR0813 |
|
LRB096 22156 GRL 40830 r |
|
| 1 |
| SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 |
| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 |
| learn of the death of Victor Hicken of Iowa City, Iowa, who | 4 |
| passed away on April 8, 2010; and
| 5 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken was born on September 28, 1921, in | 6 |
| Witt; he was the son of Thomas Hicken and Ann Atherton Hicken; | 7 |
| he met Mary O'Connell while attending the United States Naval | 8 |
| Officers Candidate School at Columbia University in New York | 9 |
| City; the couple was married on December 28, 1943; and
| 10 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken attended public schools in | 11 |
| Gillespie and earned his Bachelor of Education degree from | 12 |
| Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; after his stint in | 13 |
| the military, he attended the University of Illinois at | 14 |
| Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Master of Arts degree and | 15 |
| Ph.D. in American History; and
| 16 |
| WHEREAS, During World War II, Victor Hicken was the officer | 17 |
| in charge of one of the very first landing craft to hit the | 18 |
| beach at Dog Green, the naval landing site located at the | 19 |
| heavily fortified Vierville, France sector of Omaha Beach on | 20 |
| D-Day, June 6, 1944; his LCT(A) craft was specially designed to | 21 |
| carry explosive elements to destroy beach obstacles before the | 22 |
| arrival of the first United States and British infantry units; |
|
|
|
SR0813 |
- 2 - |
LRB096 22156 GRL 40830 r |
|
| 1 |
| the Allied landing at this spot was portrayed in the movie | 2 |
| "Saving Private Ryan"; he was later assigned to the Pacific | 3 |
| theatre, where his ship endured two typhoons and he witnessed | 4 |
| the last kamikaze attack at Okinawa; his experiences in World | 5 |
| War II were chronicled in the book "Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, | 6 |
| 1944" by Joseph Balkoski; and
| 7 |
| WHEREAS, In his 34-year tenure as professor of history at | 8 |
| Western Illinois University in Macomb, Victor Hicken served on | 9 |
| every major academic and administrative committee; during his | 10 |
| several terms on the Salary Committee, WIU increased faculty | 11 |
| salaries to match those of peer institutions; during his terms | 12 |
| on the Faculty Senate, faculty powers were enhanced; he was | 13 |
| also instrumental in establishing the university archives and | 14 |
| went on to document the history of the school in "The Purple | 15 |
| and the Gold: The Story of Western Illinois University"; he | 16 |
| served as chair of the History Department from 1967 to 1969 and | 17 |
| was voted Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois | 18 |
| Association of Teachers of English in 1976; during his last 5 | 19 |
| years at WIU, he held the position of Distinguished University | 20 |
| Professor, the first and only WIU professor to be awarded this | 21 |
| honor by a faculty committee; he also taught courses at Knox | 22 |
| College in Galesburg and Black Hawk College in Moline; and
| 23 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken served on several State committees, | 24 |
| including those which helped to define the role of junior |
|
|
|
SR0813 |
- 3 - |
LRB096 22156 GRL 40830 r |
|
| 1 |
| colleges in the state and developed and promoted the teaching | 2 |
| of African-American history; he served on the State Historic | 3 |
| Sites Committee and, in 1976, was elected the president of the | 4 |
| Illinois State Historical Society; he was appointed guest | 5 |
| lecturer at the University of Salzburg in Austria; he also | 6 |
| conducted research for the National Education Association and | 7 |
| for the American Academy for the Advancement of Science; and
| 8 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken is often listed among the most noted | 9 |
| academic authors in the State of Illinois; his first major | 10 |
| work, "Illinois in the Civil War", is considered a classic in | 11 |
| the field, presenting one of the first and best descriptions of | 12 |
| the Civil War in the West; "Illinois in the Civil War" was the | 13 |
| winner of the Award of Merit by the American Association for | 14 |
| State and Local History and has been in print for over 40 | 15 |
| years; he was among the first to write about the critical role | 16 |
| of the African-American soldier in the Civil War; he also wrote | 17 |
| contributing pieces to the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine and | 18 |
| numerous articles in scholarly journals on such subjects as | 19 |
| African-American history, political trends, and organized | 20 |
| labor issues; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken enjoyed art, painting, poetry, and | 22 |
| music; he was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan and | 23 |
| enjoyed playing baseball in the university faculty and staff | 24 |
| leagues; he was an avid runner and kept a regular routine of |
|
|
|
SR0813 |
- 4 - |
LRB096 22156 GRL 40830 r |
|
| 1 |
| running 10 miles a day; he and his wife were members of St. | 2 |
| George's Episcopal Church in Macomb congregation for over 50 | 3 |
| years; after his retirement, he and his wife spent most of | 4 |
| their time at their cabin in northern Minnesota, where he | 5 |
| enjoyed fishing and birding; and
| 6 |
| WHEREAS, Victor Hicken is survived by his wife of 66 years, | 7 |
| Mary; his son, Jeffrey Price Hicken and his daughter-in-law, | 8 |
| Mary Sarah Hicken; his granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann Hicken, his | 9 |
| son-in-law, Daniel Bellrichard, and his great-granddaughter, | 10 |
| Lulu Jeanette Bellrichard; his granddaughter, Molly Catherine | 11 |
| Hicken; his grandson, Andrew Victor Hicken and his | 12 |
| daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Anne Mackey; his son, Brian Thomas | 13 |
| O'Connell, his daughter-in-law, Lesley O'Connell, and his | 14 |
| grandchildren, Evan O'Connell and Rachel O'Connell; his | 15 |
| daughter, Elizabeth Ann Christiansen, and his son-in-law, Dana | 16 |
| Eric Christiansen; and his son, Daniel Joseph Hicken, and his | 17 |
| daughter-in-law, Kimberly Kay Hicken; therefore, be it
| 18 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 19 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 20 |
| his family and friends, the passing of Victor Hicken; and be it | 21 |
| further
| 22 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 23 |
| presented to the family of Victor Hicken as an expression of |
|
|
|
SR0813 |
- 5 - |
LRB096 22156 GRL 40830 r |
|
| 1 |
| our sympathy.
|
|