Full Text of HR0203 096th General Assembly
HR0203 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are pleased to congratulate Bob Fallstrom for | 4 |
| his 60 years of dedicated service at the Herald & Review in | 5 |
| Decatur; and
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| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom was born in Dixon on December 5, | 7 |
| 1926; he enjoyed sports, but his small frame wasn't very good | 8 |
| at playing any of them; he began calling scores into the local | 9 |
| newspaper in grade school and discovered that writing about | 10 |
| sports was a good substitution for playing; he began working at | 11 |
| the Dixon Evening Telegraph by the time he was a junior in high | 12 |
| school; and
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| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom was drafted into the United States | 14 |
| Army near the end of World War II in 1945; his proficiency at | 15 |
| typing got him sent to the Pentagon, where he worked in the | 16 |
| Adjutant General's Office and attained the rank of technical | 17 |
| sergeant; despite the U.S. government wanting him to stay after | 18 |
| the war, Mr. Fallstrom went home to Dixon and rejoined the | 19 |
| Telegraph; with his reputation as a savvy writer spreading, the | 20 |
| Decatur Herald offered him a weekly wage of $67.50 to go to | 21 |
| Decatur and write sports for them; and
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| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom started his career at what was then |
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| the Decatur Herald on January 3, 1949, when he was 22 years | 2 |
| old; by 1964, he became the newspaper's sports editor, a job he | 3 |
| also quickly assumed for the Herald's sister paper, the evening | 4 |
| Daily Review; he kept on in the post through the papers' | 5 |
| acquisition by Lee Enterprises and continued as sports editor | 6 |
| after the two publications merged into the Herald & Review in | 7 |
| 1982; as sports editor, he ran himself and his staff ragged | 8 |
| covering college sports and 100 high schools; he continued | 9 |
| serving a sports editor until 1986, when he completely changed | 10 |
| gears and became the newspaper's lifestyle editor; he currently | 11 |
| serves as the community news editor as part of the lifestyle | 12 |
| section of the newspaper; and
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| WHEREAS, Although currently known at the Herald & Review as | 14 |
| a writer of stories celebrating shining, happy people doing | 15 |
| nice things, Bob Fallstrom was well known at the paper for his | 16 |
| shoot-from-the-hip, acid-dipped columns during his time as the | 17 |
| sports editor that stirred up a lot of reader wrath, something | 18 |
| that he loved; one of his more memorable stories involves him | 19 |
| being chased by legendary wrestler Andre the Giant after a | 20 |
| particularly incendiary column; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom was a co-founder of the Juvae Jazz | 22 |
| Society; he is one of the founders of the GM Square | 23 |
| Neighborhood Organization and has been a member of his | 24 |
| neighborhood for 50 years; and
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| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom is an avid collector of giraffe | 2 |
| ornaments, toys, and keepsakes, with approximately 75 | 3 |
| ornaments in his collection; he enjoys listening to jazz and is | 4 |
| a passionate fan of America's music; he has also visited more | 5 |
| than 25 countries in the past 10 years, including China and the | 6 |
| continents of Antarctica and Africa; and
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| WHEREAS, Bob Fallstrom met his late wife, June, on a blind | 8 |
| date to see the circus in April of 1949; they were married six | 9 |
| months later and stayed married for more than 50 years until | 10 |
| her passing on October 23, 2000; together, they had six | 11 |
| children, Kristin Hargrove, Douglas Fallstrom, R.B. Fallstrom, | 12 |
| Jerrold Fallstrom, Rolf Fallstrom, and Erik Fallstrom; there | 13 |
| are also ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild; | 14 |
| therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 16 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 17 |
| congratulate Bob Fallstrom for his 60 years of dedicated | 18 |
| service at the Herald & Review and wish him continued success | 19 |
| and happiness in his future endeavors; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 |
| presented to Bob Fallstrom as a symbol of our esteem and | 22 |
| respect.
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