Full Text of SR0651 100th General Assembly
SR0651 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 Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks of Evanston, who | 4 | | passed away on June 16, 2017; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was born in Atlanta,
Georgia to Roy | 6 | | and Fannie Fuller Hicks on March 3, 1927; his family moved to
| 7 | | Evanston in 1930 when he was three and he attended Foster
| 8 | | Elementary School and Evanston Township High School; he played | 9 | | the violin in accompaniment to his mother's poetry
readings | 10 | | until his mid-teens when he joined the
baseball team, where he | 11 | | excelled as a pitcher for the Evanston
Flashes; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was drafted into the United States | 13 | | Army Air Corps midway through his senior year in high school | 14 | | during World War II; on his return from the Philippines, he | 15 | | earned his G.E.D. and was
considering going to college to get | 16 | | an engineering degree when he decided to test for a
position | 17 | | with the Evanston Fire Department; on November 1, 1950, he
| 18 | | became Evanston's first African American firefighter; he | 19 | | became a captain in 1963; in 1973, he became the assistant | 20 | | chief training officer; in 1980, he became the first African | 21 | | American fire chief and served
in that position until August of | 22 | | 1987, when he retired; in 2015, the
Central Headquarters | 23 | | Training Room at the Evanston Fire Department was dedicated to |
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| 1 | | him; he was a member of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association; | 2 | | and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks started the Evanston
Speedskating | 4 | | Club in 1966; he was the first coach of Shani Davis, the first | 5 | | African American to win a medal in the Winter
Olympics; he | 6 | | worked for many years with the Amateur Skating Association of | 7 | | Illinois and the Amateur Speedskating Union of the U.S., for | 8 | | which he was the Commissioner of Officials from
1988 to 1993; | 9 | | in May of 1999, he was inducted into the U.S. Speedskating Hall | 10 | | of Fame; he
conducted International Speedskating Union | 11 | | starters' clinics and
promoted the use of appropriate medical | 12 | | procedures at national championships; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was honored with
a number of | 14 | | lifetime memberships, among them the Amateur Speedskating | 15 | | Union of the U.S., the Amateur Skating Association of Illinois, | 16 | | Optimists
International, and the U.S. Speedskating Hall of | 17 | | Fame; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was an avid photographer; he began | 19 | | shooting weddings, cotillions, and accident sites for lawyers; | 20 | | he then graduated to portraits of blues musicians that were | 21 | | displayed
on club walls, CD covers, naturescapes, and his | 22 | | special
love, capturing skaters coming round the curve during | 23 | | skating meets; he was a member of the Professional |
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| 1 | | Photographers of America; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks was preceded in death by his | 3 | | four-year-old son, Sanders Ellis Hicks;
his parents; his | 4 | | brother, Ellis Hicks;
and his sisters, Frances Hicks, Harriet | 5 | | Thompson, and Alice Tregay; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Sanders Hicks is survived by his loving wife, | 7 | | Karen Alysia Lee; his sons, Stanley
Brady Hicks and Michael Jon | 8 | | (Jill) Walter; his grandchildren, Jake and
Kate Walter; his | 9 | | brother-in-law, James Tregay; and many loving
cousins, nieces | 10 | | and nephews, colleagues and friends; therefore, be it
| 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | 12 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | 13 | | Sanders "Sam" Ivy Hicks, and extend our sincere condolences to | 14 | | his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it | 15 | | further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 17 | | presented to the family of Sanders Hicks as an expression of | 18 | | our deepest sympathy.
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