Full Text of SR0153 95th General Assembly
SR0153 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 |
| learn of the death of James W. Ashley of Vermont, formerly of | 4 |
| Hinsdale and Chicago, who passed away on April 2, 2007; and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was involved with the YMCA as a young | 6 |
| attorney and remained active with the organization well into | 7 |
| the 1990s; he worked closely with John Root, former president | 8 |
| of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago; he was elected chairman of | 9 |
| the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, having served on the group's | 10 |
| board since 1966; he chaired the board of the YMCA of the USA | 11 |
| from 1985 to 1987; in the early 1990s, Mr. Ashley headed a task | 12 |
| force to rebuild the Jerusalem YMCA, which is owned and | 13 |
| operated by the YMCA of the USA and has a staff equally divided | 14 |
| among Christians, Jews, and Muslims; after the completion of | 15 |
| the Jerusalem project, Mr. Ashley was involved with a project | 16 |
| next to the facility's building;
and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was a partner at McDermott, Will, and | 18 |
| Emery, where he chaired the estate planning department;
Mr. | 19 |
| Ashley grew up in La Grange and graduated from Lyons Township | 20 |
| High School; he began taking classes at Fordham University in | 21 |
| New York; after the attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the | 22 |
| U.S. Army Air Force, where he was a navigator in 40 missions | 23 |
| over Europe; and
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| WHEREAS, Returning home from World War II, Mr. Ashley | 2 |
| successfully petitioned officials at Northwestern University's | 3 |
| law school to be admitted without an undergraduate degree; | 4 |
| after his graduation from law school, he worked in the trust | 5 |
| department at Continental Bank before joining McDermott, Will, | 6 |
| and Emery; he married the former Courtney Coolidge in 1947; | 7 |
| they divorced in the mid-1970s, and he married Joan Allbright | 8 |
| Crawford in 1975;
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| WHEREAS, In addition to staying busy with the YMCA in | 10 |
| retirement, Mr. Ashley did a stint as treasurer for Vermont's | 11 |
| state Democratic party and served on several local boards; and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. James Ashley is survived by his wife, Joan; | 13 |
| his sons, James Jr., Christopher, Cooper, and John; his | 14 |
| daughter, Courtney; his sister, Elizabeth Watson; and 13 | 15 |
| grandchildren; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL | 17 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 18 |
| his family and friends, the passing of James W. Ashley; and be | 19 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 |
| presented to the family of James W. Ashley as a symbol of our |
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| sympathy.
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