Full Text of SR0644 97th General Assembly
SR0644 97TH 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
Franklin McMahon, who passed away on | 4 | | March 3, 2012; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon was born on the west side of | 6 | | Chicago in 1921; he grew up in Oak Park and Los Angeles before | 7 | | returning to Chicago, where he attended high school; in 1939, | 8 | | he graduated from Fenwick High School, where his professional | 9 | | artistic career started when one of his drawings for his high | 10 | | school publication was published in Collier's Magazine; he is | 11 | | also a member of the Fenwick High School Hall of Fame; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, After graduating from high school, Franklin | 13 | | McMahon enlisted in the United States Army Air Force, where he | 14 | | served as a B-17 navigator conducting missions over Germany | 15 | | during World War II; during the war, his plane was shot down | 16 | | and he spent months as a German prisoner of war; during his | 17 | | time in the POW camp, he made drawings of his Nazi captors, | 18 | | which were later published; after the war, he returned to | 19 | | Chicago, where he married his high school sweetheart, the late | 20 | | travel reporter Irene Leahy McMahon; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon was an | 22 | | internationally-recognized artist reporter; he made drawings |
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| 1 | | and paintings for numerous publications, including the Chicago | 2 | | Tribune, the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun Times, Chicago | 3 | | Magazine, the New York Times, Life and Look Magazines, and | 4 | | Sports Illustrated; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon's artistic works captured the | 6 | | major historical events of the post-World War II era; he | 7 | | created works for such iconic events as the trial of Emmett | 8 | | Till, the political campaigns and conventions from 1960 through | 9 | | 2004, the Vatican II Council, the 1965 March on Selma, the | 10 | | Conspiracy Trial of The Chicago 8, the first walk on the moon, | 11 | | as drawn from Mission Control, and the Watergate hearings; he | 12 | | created all of his drawings "on scene" because he believed that | 13 | | an artist reporter could "see around the corners" to capture | 14 | | the essence of the emotion of the subjects of his work; his | 15 | | work is in a variety of public collections, including the | 16 | | Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and the | 17 | | Chicago History Museum; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon was the recipient of numerous | 19 | | awards and accolades, including the Renaissance Prize of the | 20 | | Art Institute of Chicago; in 1963, he was named "Artist of the | 21 | | Year" by the New York Artists Guild; in 2000, he received the | 22 | | Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Civil Rights from the | 23 | | Minority Economic Resources Board; he was the recipient of | 24 | | three Emmy Awards and one Peabody award for films incorporating |
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| 1 | | his artwork that were broadcast on WTTW and a number of other | 2 | | Chicago television stations; he received honorary degrees from | 3 | | Loyola University of Chicago and Lake Forest College; he was | 4 | | also a member of the Guiding Faculty of the Famous Artists | 5 | | School in Wilton, Connecticut; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon was preceded in death by his | 7 | | wife; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, Franklin McMahon is survived by his children, Wm. | 9 | | Franklin McMahon, Mark McMahon, Mary I McMahon Taplin, Deborah | 10 | | McMahon Osterholtz, Patrick McMahon, Hugh McMahon, Margot | 11 | | McMahon, Michelle McMahon-Kubota, and Michael McMahon; his 13 | 12 | | grandchildren; and his 5 great-grandchildren; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | 14 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 15 | | his family and friends, the passing of Franklin McMahon; and be | 16 | | it further
| 17 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 18 | | presented to the family of Franklin McMahon as an expression of | 19 | | our sympathy.
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