Full Text of SR0490 100th General Assembly
SR0490 100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of George W. Swenson Jr. of Savoy, who | 4 | | passed away on February 22, 2017; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota | 6 | | to George W. Sr. and Vernie Swenson on September 22, 1922; he | 7 | | earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from | 8 | | Michigan Technological University in 1944 by correspondence | 9 | | while serving on active duty in the United States Army as a | 10 | | second lieutenant in the Signal Corps; he received his master's | 11 | | degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts | 12 | | Institute of Technology in 1947, and his Ph.D. from the | 13 | | University of Wisconsin in 1949; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson taught electrical engineering at | 15 | | Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, the University of | 16 | | Alaska in Fairbanks, and Michigan State University in East | 17 | | Lansing; he then began a 60-year career at the University of | 18 | | Illinois; he authored, "The Principles of Modern Acoustics", | 19 | | while an associate professor of electrical engineering at | 20 | | Washington University; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson traveled around the world in the | 22 | | late 1950s, studying research installations in New Zealand, |
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| 1 | | Australia, England, Europe, and the Soviet Union; he designed | 2 | | and built what was at the time the largest and most productive | 3 | | radio telescope on the planet near Danville - the VRO | 4 | | (Vermilion River Observatory); he was responsible for | 5 | | discovering, mapping, and cataloging thousands of new radio | 6 | | sources throughout the universe during its 20-plus-year | 7 | | research life; this propelled the University of Illinois to the | 8 | | forefront of radio astronomy research; he produced a receiver | 9 | | and tracking system, which became the foundation of the | 10 | | Satellite Ionosphere research group, which flourished for | 11 | | decades on the University of Illinois campus; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, From 1964 to 1968, George Swenson chaired the | 13 | | design committee for the VLA (Vary Large Array), the iconic | 14 | | radio telescope that is shown on television daily; in the | 15 | | 1970s, he became interim chairman of the Astronomy Department | 16 | | at the University of Illinois; in 1979, he became chairman of | 17 | | the Electrical Engineering Department at the University, which | 18 | | lasted to 1985; he resigned from that position to return to his | 19 | | research for two years before retiring officially in 1987; he | 20 | | still had many years of research and mentoring graduate | 21 | | students in master's and Ph.D. programs; he held a position | 22 | | with the United States Army Corps of Engineers Laboratory in | 23 | | Champaign for decades doing research in acoustics; while with | 24 | | the Lab, he developed an automated monitoring system for | 25 | | tracking radio-tagged animals; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson spent parts of a number of summers | 2 | | advising on technical aspects of wildlife research on Barrow | 3 | | Colorado Island, a research station in the Panama Canal | 4 | | supported by The Smithsonian Institute; he was regularly | 5 | | recognized for his achievements, including memberships in | 6 | | organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the | 7 | | National Academy of Engineers; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, As a youth the Huron Mountains of Michigan's Upper | 9 | | Peninsula were George Swenson's favorite stomping grounds; he | 10 | | climbed regularly in the Cascades and other northwest ranges in | 11 | | the early 1950s and later in the Alaska Range from 1954 to | 12 | | 1956; one of his first ascents was Institute Peak, Alaska, an | 13 | | 8,000-foot climb for which he received naming honors with his | 14 | | team; he trekked in Australia and New Zealand at various times | 15 | | and at about 60 years of age, he traversed the 45-mile | 16 | | Greenstone Ridge Trail on Isle Royale solo; he was an avid | 17 | | canoeist and circumnavigated Isle Royale and nearly completed a | 18 | | circumnavigation of Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson was an avid birder; he compiled a | 20 | | life list all over the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic, North | 21 | | America, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand and | 22 | | more; he built a family camp on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula | 23 | | that he started in 1962 and which is still in use today; he and |
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| 1 | | his wife donated an 80-acre patch of Keweenaw woods to the | 2 | | Michigan Nature Association which has become the "Gratiot Lake | 3 | | Overlook Nature Sanctuary"; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, In 1995, George Swenson flew into Bettles, Alaska | 5 | | and spent two weeks on the Noatak River in The Gates of the | 6 | | Arctic National Preserve; he had been in every part of Alaska; | 7 | | he visited the North Pole in February of 1963; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson was a supporter of conservation | 9 | | organizations; he regularly contributed to The Nature | 10 | | Conservancy, The Michigan Nature Association, and many others; | 11 | | he earned a private pilot license in 1955, and flew regularly | 12 | | until 2011 at the age of 88; around 2005, he received a | 13 | | citation from the FAA for 50 years of flying without an | 14 | | incident; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson was preceded in death by his | 16 | | parents; his brother, Ward V. Swenson; his sister-in-law, | 17 | | Roseann Peterson Swenson; and his grand-nephew, Andrew C. | 18 | | Vadnais; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, George Swenson is survived by his wife of 46 | 20 | | years, Joy Janice Swenson; his children, George W. "Jud" III | 21 | | (Mary Knight) Swenson, Laura Swenson, Julie L. (John) Carney, | 22 | | and Donna J. (Mark) Jones; his grandchildren, Kevin (Jamie) |
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| 1 | | McQuain, Ren (Steff) Farrar, Arthur E. (Melissa) Jones, Mark C. | 2 | | (Elizabeth) Jones, and Madeleine (fiancee Boomer Braun) | 3 | | Swenson; his great-grandsons, Dylan McQuain and Elliot Jones; | 4 | | and six nephews and nieces and their children and | 5 | | grandchildren; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 7 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 8 | | George W. Swenson Jr., and extend our sincere condolences to | 9 | | his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 10 | | further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 | | presented to the family of George Swenson as an expression of | 13 | | our deepest sympathy.
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