Full Text of SR0487 97th General Assembly
SR0487 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | SR0487 | | LRB097 15542 GRL 60679 r |
|
| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of
Dr. John H. Hess, who passed away on | 4 | | December 5, 2011; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Dr. John Hess was born on August 19, 1925, in the | 6 | | country then known as Yugoslavia; he married Anna Willer in | 7 | | 1957; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Dr. John Hess graduated from high school in June | 9 | | of 1944, the same month as the D-Day invasion of Europe; soon | 10 | | after, an SS officer "invited" him into his unit, which he | 11 | | demurred; he was then forced to work in Reich Labor Force as an | 12 | | auxiliary to the Wehrmacht; en route to Vienna to be forced | 13 | | into an SS division, Dr. Hess and four others jumped off a | 14 | | train; a Gestapo agent questioned them at a train station, but | 15 | | a convincing lie set them free, and they decided that a big | 16 | | city like Vienna was a good place to hide out; the 5 men found | 17 | | work in a helmet factory and remained until Soviet troops | 18 | | captured Vienna in 1945; despite the fact that he was not a | 19 | | soldier, he was declared a prisoner of war in November of 1945 | 20 | | and sent to the Bor prison camp in Yugoslavia; he was also | 21 | | reported as being ethnically German, which was a death sentence | 22 | | in Yugoslavia at the time, but managed to avoid persecution; | 23 | | and
|
| | | SR0487 | - 2 - | LRB097 15542 GRL 60679 r |
|
| 1 | | WHEREAS, After being set free from the prison camp, Dr. | 2 | | John Hess returned to his studies; after graduating from Karl | 3 | | Franzens University Medical School in Graz, Austria, he came to | 4 | | the United States and completed an internship and surgical | 5 | | residency at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park;; he | 6 | | subsequently began his medical career in Fisher in 1958; he | 7 | | retired from practice on February 28, 1995; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Dr. John Hess was a charter fellow of the American | 9 | | Academy of Family Practice and served as a diplomate of the | 10 | | American Board of Family Practice for 12 years; he was a member | 11 | | of the staff of Covenant Medical Center and served on the board | 12 | | of directors of Mercy Hospital for 13 years; he also served on | 13 | | the Rantoul Township High School board for 10 years; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Dr. John Hess wrote an unpublished book about his | 15 | | life, including his World War II experiences, called "My Life | 16 | | By Hans Hess"; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Dr. John Hess is survived by his son, Dr. Art Hess | 18 | | (Kenda Callahan Hess); his daughter, Lydia Haan (Andrew); and | 19 | | his grandchildren, Anna-Kae, Nick, and William; therefore, be | 20 | | it
| 21 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL |
| | | SR0487 | - 3 - | LRB097 15542 GRL 60679 r |
|
| 1 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 2 | | his family and friends, the passing of Dr. John H. Hess; and be | 3 | | it further
| 4 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 5 | | presented to the family of Dr. John Hess as an expression of | 6 | | our sympathy.
|
|