Full Text of SR0184 94th General Assembly
SR0184 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Joan B. Coogan of Olympia Fields passed away on | 3 |
| April 19, 2005; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Coogan (nee Cyphers) had a passion for | 5 |
| writing while growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; while | 6 |
| attending high school, she penned stories for the high school | 7 |
| newspaper and became its editor; as an adult, while raising her | 8 |
| family in Olympia Fields, she volunteered to be a publicist for | 9 |
| suburban community organizations and worked as a freelance | 10 |
| writer; her fondness for the spoken word served her well as she | 11 |
| sought support and donations for the social service agencies | 12 |
| she helped found and fervently believed in; and
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| WHEREAS, During the late 1960s, she did volunteer work with | 14 |
| the Urban Gateways Summer Day camp at Temple Anshe Sholom, | 15 |
| Olympia Fields; in this program, she taught cooking classes, | 16 |
| recruited volunteers, and served as publicity chairman; her | 17 |
| older children served as camp counselors; her next volunteer | 18 |
| assignment was with the East Chicago Heights Head Start program | 19 |
| in which she was able to involve her children as junior | 20 |
| volunteers on school-free days; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1969, she helped launch Respond Now, a Chicago | 22 |
| Heights-based agency that provides emergency help to needy | 23 |
| families in the south suburbs of Chicago; she was on its board | 24 |
| for more than two decades; and
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| WHEREAS, Although she worked on several projects for | 26 |
| Respond Now in 1969, Mrs. Coogan scored a major success with a | 27 |
| "Christmas Store", an idea she developed to serve needy | 28 |
| families in a more dignified way than the traditional Christmas | 29 |
| basket; families who shopped at the store purchased items as | 30 |
| well as food for a fraction of the retail value, sparing them | 31 |
| the embarrassment of receiving charity and giving the pleasure |
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| of Christmas shopping at nominal prices; and
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| WHEREAS, Ten years later, she became a founding board | 3 |
| member of Hospice Suburban South and served for a number of | 4 |
| years as its executive director; it has since evolved into a | 5 |
| regional office of Palliative CareCenter & Hospice of the North | 6 |
| Shore; and
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| WHEREAS, She wrote more than fifty feature articles for the | 8 |
| south suburban Star Newspapers; she also wrote a semi-monthly | 9 |
| consumer interest column, Stone Soup, for five years for the | 10 |
| same newspaper; her column was a reader favorite because she | 11 |
| wrote about consumer issues with a sense of humor; and
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| WHEREAS, She never doubted she could accomplish what she | 13 |
| wanted to do; she will be remembered as a delightful person | 14 |
| with a great sense of humor who was down to earth and very | 15 |
| practical; she was a great organizer and had an ability to move | 16 |
| others to action; she was also very outgoing, friendly, and | 17 |
| always open and concerned about people; and
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| WHEREAS, Although she will be deeply missed by those who | 19 |
| knew and admired her, her legacy of achievement will serve as | 20 |
| an enduring reminder of her selflessness, and she will | 21 |
| undoubtedly be remembered with much respect and affection for | 22 |
| many years to come; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Coogan is survived by her husband of more | 24 |
| than 50 years, John; her sons, John, Michael, James, Dennis, | 25 |
| and Thomas; her daughters, Joan and Mary; her sister, Marilyn | 26 |
| Ryan; and her 15 grandchildren; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL | 28 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we extend our sincerest | 29 |
| condolences to the members of her family and to all those who | 30 |
| mourn the passing of Joan B. Coogan; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 |
| presented to her family as an expression of our deepest | 3 |
| sympathy.
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