Full Text of SR0132 96th General Assembly
SR0132 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 |
| learn of the death of longtime radio broadcaster and | 4 |
| commentator Paul Harvey, whose show reached over 24 million | 5 |
| listeners around the world, and who passed away on February 28, | 6 |
| 2009; and
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| WHEREAS, Paul Harvey Aurandt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on | 8 |
| September 4, 1918; his mother raised him and his sister after | 9 |
| the tragic death of his father, a police officer killed in the | 10 |
| line of duty when his son was only three; Paul Harvey dropped | 11 |
| his last name for professional reasons in the 1940s; and
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| WHEREAS, He developed an early love for radio and would | 13 |
| pick up stations on a homemade cigar-box crystal set; he began | 14 |
| his career as an unpaid station gofer at KVOO radio in Tulsa in | 15 |
| 1933; he attended Tulsa University while working at KVOO; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1939 he moved to KXOK radio in St. Louis, | 17 |
| Missouri, where he met his future wife, Lynne; he proposed to | 18 |
| her on their first date and they married in June of 1940; he | 19 |
| would call her by his pet name for her, "Angel", the rest of | 20 |
| their lives; and
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| WHEREAS, He traveled to Hawaii to broadcast for the United |
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| States Navy in 1940 and was on a ship two days out of Pearl | 2 |
| Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941; upon his | 3 |
| return to the States he was named director of news and | 4 |
| information for the Office of War Information for Michigan and | 5 |
| Indiana; he enlisted in the United States Air Force and moved | 6 |
| to Chicago after receiving a medical discharge in 1944; there | 7 |
| he joined WENR-ABC news; and
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| WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was known for his radio show, The Rest | 9 |
| of the Story, where he would tell stories of human interest, | 10 |
| and as he would describe them, "Would Aunt Betty care about | 11 |
| this"?; he is credited with coining the words "guesstimate," | 12 |
| "trendency," "Reaganomics," and "snoopervision"; in the year | 13 |
| 2000 he signed a reported $100 million contract that would keep | 14 |
| him broadcasting for the next ten years; and
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| WHEREAS, He was heard in Chicago on WGN-AM radio and across | 16 |
| the globe on American Forces Radio; he wrote a syndicated news | 17 |
| column and was the author of three books, Remember These | 18 |
| Things, Autumn of Liberty, and The Rest of the Story; he and | 19 |
| his wife were inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame, and in | 20 |
| 2005 he was one of fourteen recipients of the Presidential | 21 |
| Medal of Freedom; and
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| WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was preceded in death by his wife, | 23 |
| Lynne "Angel" Harvey; he is survived by his son, Paul Harvey |
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| Jr.; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 3 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 4 |
| his friends, family, and listeners around the world, the | 5 |
| passing of Paul Harvey; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 7 |
| presented to Paul Harvey Jr. as a symbol of our sincere | 8 |
| sympathy at the passing of his father, Paul Harvey.
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