Full Text of HR1355 99th General Assembly
HR1355 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Gene | 4 | | Vanderport, who passed away on June 25, 2016; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was a native of Danville; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was a graduate of the University | 7 | | of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; after graduation, he served | 8 | | veterans by working as a social worker at the Veterans | 9 | | Administration Hospital in Danville; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, While serving the veterans at the Veterans | 11 | | Administration Hospital, Gene Vanderport began his lifetime of | 12 | | service to working people by assuming a leadership position at | 13 | | the American Federation of Government Employees union in the | 14 | | hospital; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was so successful in that union | 16 | | leadership position at the Veterans Administration Hospital | 17 | | that he was called to the union's federal level; from there, he | 18 | | was sent across the country as an organizer; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport had such an enormous commitment to | 20 | | public education and teachers, students, and support staff in |
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| 1 | | the schools that he left Washington, D.C. and returned to | 2 | | Illinois as a Uniserve Director for the Illinois Education | 3 | | Association of East Central Illinois; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport has made major contributions to | 5 | | the civic and social activity of Urbana-Champaign; he is a | 6 | | co-founder of many organizations, such as Socialist Forum, the | 7 | | Living Wage Association of Central Illinois, and the Mother | 8 | | Jones Chapter of Jobs with Justice, the only Illinois chapter | 9 | | outside of Chicago; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport has lent his skills to workers who | 11 | | were not in his own union, such as the Staley workers in | 12 | | Decatur and the Campus Coalition of Workers at the University | 13 | | of Illinois; in his last days, he was on the picket line with | 14 | | workers from Clifford-Jacobs in Champaign, the Non-Tenure | 15 | | Track Faculty Union at the University of Illinois, and | 16 | | students, workers, and families protesting the recent and | 17 | | drastic State budget cuts; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was not only in solidarity with | 19 | | and actively supportive of many human or civil rights movements | 20 | | of marginalized or oppressed people, whether they were | 21 | | unionized workers or not, he also spent his time and energy | 22 | | advancing the causes of social justice, labor rights, and | 23 | | political and economic opportunity; therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 2 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 3 | | we, along with his family and friends, mourn the passing of | 4 | | Gene Vanderport; and be it further
| 5 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 6 | | presented to the family of Gene Vanderport as an expression of | 7 | | our sympathy.
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