Full Text of HR0026 096th General Assembly
HR0026 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of
Helen K. | 4 |
| Kmiec, who passed away on January 19, 2009; and
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| WHEREAS, Helen Kmiec was born on December 5, 1915 in | 6 |
| Chicago; her parents were the late Stanislaw and Bronislawa | 7 |
| Kwiecien; and
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| WHEREAS, Helen Kmiec graduated from St. Fidelis Grammar | 9 |
| School, then attended Holy Family Academy's two-year business | 10 |
| course while helping her parents in their neighborhood grocery | 11 |
| store; afterwards, she spent a year at the University of Poland | 12 |
| in Warsaw; she then spent another in Poland in scouting, when | 13 |
| she attended the 1937 World Scout Jamboree and met Robert | 14 |
| Baden-Powell, the founder of scouting, and General Wladyslaw | 15 |
| Sikorski before returning home; and
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| WHEREAS, After she returned home, Helen Kmiec continued | 17 |
| helping her parents in their grocery store; in 1939, she | 18 |
| attended the World's Fair in New York; in 1941, while | 19 |
| volunteering at the Polish Museum of America, she served as an | 20 |
| usher at Orchestra Hall in Chicago when Ignacy Paderewski, the | 21 |
| first premier of Poland and great pianist, came to the United | 22 |
| States; and
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| WHEREAS, Upon America's entrance into World War II, Helen | 2 |
| Kmiec followed three of her brothers into the U.S. Navy, | 3 |
| serving with the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service | 4 |
| (WAVES) and Naval Intelligence as a Slavic Language Translator | 5 |
| in Washington, D.C. from 1944 to 1946; and
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| WHEREAS, After World War II, Helen Kmiec returned to | 7 |
| Chicago and worked various jobs; she became involved in the | 8 |
| Polish Legion of American Veterans (P.L.A.V.) and held the | 9 |
| offices of Post Treasurer, Adjutant, and Commander; she also | 10 |
| served as the group's Illinois State Adjutant and National | 11 |
| Adjutant; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1948, Helen Kmiec married a man from her | 13 |
| neighborhood, Mitchell, and settled in the same house her | 14 |
| parents had their store; there, she raised her two children, | 15 |
| Charles (Chuck), born in November of 1949, and Mitchelle | 16 |
| (Mitch), born in September of 1951; and
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| WHEREAS, In the late 1950s, Helen Kmiec became a Democratic | 18 |
| Precinct Captain under then-Aldermen Joseph and Daniel | 19 |
| Rosenkowski and future Alderman Thomas Keane; she then went to | 20 |
| work part time to help pay for her children's Catholic school | 21 |
| education, first for the Cook County Record's Department, then | 22 |
| the City of Chicago Finance Committee, and finally the Cook |
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| County Highway Department, where she worked until her | 2 |
| retirement at the age of 78; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1991, Helen Kmiec was presented with the Cook | 4 |
| County Public Service Award; while working at the Cook County | 5 |
| Highway Department, she became involved in the Edgar A. | 6 |
| Lawrence Highway Post, holding the position of Treasurer, | 7 |
| Adjutant, and eventually Post Commander; she was also awarded a | 8 |
| Life Membership from the organization; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, Helen Kmiec was an active member of the St. | 10 |
| Fidelis Ladies Sodality; the American Legion, where she served | 11 |
| as Post Adjutant, Treasurer, and Commander and was a Life | 12 |
| Member; the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America; the Polish | 13 |
| National Alliance; and the Polish Women's Alliance; and
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| WHEREAS, Helen Kmiec was an avid traveler; she cruised on a | 15 |
| transatlantic ocean liner before World War II, long before | 16 |
| cruising became popular; she kayaked the lakes and hiked | 17 |
| through the Tatra Mountains in Poland; she rafted on the | 18 |
| Vistula/Danube Rivers in Poland; she sailed in a feluka | 19 |
| (sailboat) on the Nile River; she canoed up the Amazon; in | 20 |
| total, she visited 6 of the 7 continents; and
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| WHEREAS, Helen Kmiec was the beloved wife of the late | 22 |
| Mitchell P.; the loving mother and best friend of Mitchelle H. |
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| and the late Charles M.; the sister of the late Thaddeus (late | 2 |
| Estelle), the late Chester (the late Helen), the late Eugene | 3 |
| (the late Edwina), and Richard (Helen) Kwiecien; and the dear | 4 |
| friend of many; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 7 |
| mourn, along with her family and friends, the passing of Helen | 8 |
| K. Kmiec; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 10 |
| presented to the family of Helen Kmiec as an expression of our | 11 |
| sympathy.
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