Full Text of SR0644 93rd General Assembly
SR0644 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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SR0644 |
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LRB093 22901 HSS 52753 r |
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois | 3 |
| learned with regret of the death of Sharon L. Merritt on | 4 |
| Saturday, July 10, 2004; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt was born in Chicago; she graduated | 6 |
| from St. Louis University with a bachelor's degree in nursing | 7 |
| in 1962; she moved to California and received her master's in | 8 |
| nursing from the University of California, San Francisco, in | 9 |
| 1964; that same year, she met her future husband at a party; | 10 |
| they had their first date on a Thursday, their second the next | 11 |
| day, and on Sunday Frank J. Merritt proposed to her; they were | 12 |
| married four months later; and
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| WHEREAS, The Merritts moved to St. Louis in 1971 and Mrs. | 14 |
| Merritt taught nursing at Southern Illinois University in | 15 |
| Edwardsville; she earned her PhD in education at the University | 16 |
| of Missouri-St. Louis in 1982, while continuing to teach; in | 17 |
| 1987, the Merritts moved to Hinsdale and she took an associate | 18 |
| professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt worked for years with people with | 20 |
| sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea; she also | 21 |
| directed the Center for Narcolepsy Research at the University | 22 |
| of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing; her concentration | 23 |
| was on pupillometry, the science of measuring eye pupil size, | 24 |
| which can clinically determine sleepiness; her research | 25 |
| validated that the sleepier a person gets, the smaller their | 26 |
| pupils become; the four-year study on pupillometry will be | 27 |
| published soon; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt is remembered as a hands-on director | 29 |
| and was good at hiring quality personnel; and
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| WHEREAS, Mrs. Merritt played tennis, a sport she started at |
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LRB093 22901 HSS 52753 r |
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| age 34; and
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| WHEREAS, The passing of Sharon L. Merritt has been deeply | 3 |
| felt by many, especially her husband, Frank J. Merritt; her | 4 |
| daughters, Michelle and Melissa; her sisters, Colette Loecke | 5 |
| and Joyce Spizzirri; her brother, Louis Spizzirri; and her | 6 |
| three grandchildren; therefore, be it | 7 |
| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL | 8 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 9 |
| Sharon L. Merritt, and we extend our deepest sympathy to her | 10 |
| family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it | 11 |
| further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 |
| presented to the family of Sharon L. Merritt as an expression | 14 |
| of our sincerest condolences for their loss.
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