Full Text of HR0630 99th General Assembly
HR0630 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are pleased to honor Dr. Gerhard Malcharek for | 4 | | his service to his country and his many years of practice as a | 5 | | dentist at the Murray Developmental Center in Centralia; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was born in Czechoslovakia (now | 7 | | the Czech Republic) in 1932; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, In the summers of 1943 and 1944, school boys in | 9 | | seventh and eighth grades were utilized by the German Army to | 10 | | prepare fortifications for the retreating German soldiers of | 11 | | the Eastern Front; when the summers were over, the boys | 12 | | returned to their respective schools; at the age of 13, Gerhard | 13 | | Malcharek was pushed into service with the German Army, who | 14 | | lied about his age to make him enlist; he was given tank | 15 | | training and assigned as a tank driver; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was wounded in battle when | 17 | | Soviet forces attacked his tank unit, causing shrapnel injuries | 18 | | to his right foot and left leg; and | 19 | | WHEREAS, After the war, Gerhard Malcharek was sent back to | 20 | | the Soviet Union as a Prisoner of War to help the nation | 21 | | rebuild until 1947, when he returned home to Czechoslovakia; |
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| 1 | | his family was subsequently forced out and they immigrated to | 2 | | Germany; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was prohibited from entering | 4 | | school because of his service in the war, placing a pause on | 5 | | his lifetime dream of being a dentist; an American soldier | 6 | | befriended the young Dr. Malcharek, encouraging him to go to | 7 | | the United States, where he could go to school as much as he | 8 | | wanted; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Malcharek was 21 years old in 1951 when he | 10 | | immigrated to the United States, moving to Chicago; within 30 | 11 | | days of him arriving on American soil, he enlisted in the | 12 | | United States Army as a Combat Engineer; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Malcharek served 2 tours in Korea with his | 14 | | company building bridges and bunkers, creating mine fields, and | 15 | | doing demolition work; in 1952, he was injured by shrapnel from | 16 | | a land mine explosion and received the Purple Heart; he retired | 17 | | as a Colonel; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, After the Korean War, Gerhard Malcharek returned | 19 | | to Chicago and used the G.I. Bill to enroll at a junior | 20 | | college; he later transferred to Western Illinois University to | 21 | | finish his bachelor of science; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek still dreamed of becoming a | 2 | | dentist, but faced difficulty being accepted to a dental school | 3 | | because he was a poor immigrant; refusing to be deterred, he | 4 | | took a job as a teacher at Marshall High School, near the | 5 | | University of Illinois School of Dentistry in Chicago; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, In 1961, Gerhard Malcharek's persistence paid off | 7 | | and he was admitted to the University of Illinois School of | 8 | | Dentistry in Chicago; he worked nights at an area hospital to | 9 | | help pay for his education and went with little sleep between | 10 | | long nights at work and long hours in the classroom; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek's dream became a reality in | 12 | | 1966 when he was hired out of dental school to work for the | 13 | | recently established Murray Center in Centralia; Dr. Malcharek | 14 | | was the only dentist to care for the nearly 700 residents; Dr. | 15 | | Malcharek and his wife then moved to Irvington, where they | 16 | | still live today, and he practiced dentistry at the Murray | 17 | | Developmental Center for 27 years until his retirement in 1992; | 18 | | and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek also practiced at a medical | 20 | | center in Irvington 2 nights a week and on Saturdays; he also | 21 | | served as a military reserve dentist for the 102nd Army Reserve | 22 | | Command in St. Louis for 23 years; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek and his wife have 2 children | 2 | | who are also in the medical field; their daughter, Marianne | 3 | | McDaniel, is an optometrist and their son, Paul Malcharek, is a | 4 | | physician; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek has overcome countless | 6 | | obstacles in his life but never faltered from achieving his | 7 | | dream to be a dentist; therefore, be it
| 8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 9 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 10 | | honor Dr. Gerhard Malcharek for his service to his country and | 11 | | living his dreams alongside his wonderful family through the | 12 | | practice of dentistry; and be it further
| 13 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 14 | | presented to Dr. Gerhard Malcharek as a symbol of our esteem | 15 | | and respect.
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