HR1582 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1582 LRB096 24743 GRL 44796 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to honor the achievements and remarkable contributions of Illinois residents; and

WHEREAS, Gus Lukis, a cobbler from the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, has run a shoe repair shop on 57th Street, Hyde Park Shoe Rebuilders, for 51 years; and

WHEREAS, Lukis has earned unending respect from his friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners for his excellent disposition and his sense of family and community; and

WHEREAS, During the 5 decades at the business he grew up with and loved so much, Lukis has fixed everything from the backpacks of University of Chicago students to the shoes of Nobel Prize winners; and

WHEREAS, Lukis moved from his Chicago birthplace in 1929 to Leonidion, Greece when he was 6 months old; after surviving the horrors of World War II as Leonidion was constantly bombed, he returned to the United States as a young man in 1947; and

WHEREAS, At the age of 18, after living briefly in Los Angeles, Lukis returned to Chicago, where he learned to mend shoes at his uncle's shoe repair shop in Hyde Park; and

WHEREAS, Shortly after beginning work at his uncle's shop, Gus met his future wife, Connie, with whom he spent 55 wonderful years before her death in 2004; together, they raised two sons, Jim and John; and

WHEREAS, In 1959, Lukis and his uncle moved their shoe shop to 57th Street; as a testament to his first-rate customer service, his commitment to the business he loves, and the loyalty of his Hyde Park residents, Gus is a neighborhood icon and is familiarly known as the "Mayor of 57th Street"; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Gus Lukis on the occasion of his 51 years on 57th Street in Hyde Park and his dedication to the Hyde Park community; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Gus Lukis as a symbol of our respect and esteem.