Full Text of HJR0042 94th General Assembly
HJ0042eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 42
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| WHEREAS, Penny Lee Severns and her identical twin sister, | 3 |
| Patty, were born on
January 21, 1952 in Decatur, Illinois, the | 4 |
| daughters of Donald Severns, Sr.
and Helen Severns; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1972, Penny Severns was an alternate at-large | 6 |
| delegate to
the Democratic National Convention, the | 7 |
| then-youngest delegate ever elected;
later in
the year Penny | 8 |
| was elected to one
of six spots from Illinois on the Democratic | 9 |
| National Committee; in 1974 she
graduated from Southern | 10 |
| Illinois University in Carbondale with a Bachelor of
Arts | 11 |
| degree in political science with a concentration in | 12 |
| international
relations; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1977, Penny moved to Washington D.C. where she | 14 |
| was appointed to a
prominent post with the United States State | 15 |
| Department; Penny served for two
years as a
Special Assistant | 16 |
| to the Administrator of the Agency for International
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| Development; Penny traveled to Thailand, Nepal,
and India, | 18 |
| where she evaluated and audited the United States' mission in | 19 |
| those
countries; and
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| WHEREAS, While working for the Agency for International | 21 |
| Development, Penny
was given the opportunity to be a
part of | 22 |
| history when she served as the Agency's Representative during
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| negotiations of the Camp David Peace Accords; Penny
was in | 24 |
| attendance on the day the historic document was signed; and
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| WHEREAS, While in Washington, Penny Severns was a Resident | 26 |
| Associate at the
Smithsonian Institution, where she met and | 27 |
| talked with some of the world's great
architects and master | 28 |
| builders; Penny was fond of Frank Lloyd Wright and his
work, | 29 |
| and
is remembered as someone who helped in the preservation of | 30 |
| his work,
particularly with the Dana-Thomas House in | 31 |
| Springfield; and
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| WHEREAS, Penny Severns resigned from the State Department | 2 |
| in 1979; she
returned to Decatur and took a job with Archer | 3 |
| Daniels Midland; in 1980, Penny
ran an unsuccessful campaign | 4 |
| for United States Congress
against United States | 5 |
| Representative Edward Madigan; even though she lost the
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| election, the campaign gave Penny the opportunity to meet many | 7 |
| of the citizens
of Central Illinois, and her increased | 8 |
| visibility helped her in future
elections; in 1981, she worked | 9 |
| as an Administrative Assistant to the State
Comptroller; in | 10 |
| 1983, Penny Severns won a seat on the Decatur City Council with
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| the largest number of votes in the history of Decatur; and
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| WHEREAS, Penny Severns won the 51st District Senate seat in | 13 |
| 1986; while
serving her District, Senator Severns held the | 14 |
| position of
Minority Caucus Whip, was a top budget negotiator, | 15 |
| and was minority
spokesperson of the Revenue Committee; she | 16 |
| also served on the Executive
Committee
and the Legislative | 17 |
| Audit Commission; as a State Senator, Penny worked tirelessly | 18 |
| on behalf of the constituents in her district and was known as | 19 |
| a champion for the rights of working families, women, and | 20 |
| children throughout all Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1989, Senator Severns was selected from a | 22 |
| nationwide group of
state and local lawmakers to participate as | 23 |
| a Fellow at Harvard University's
Kennedy School of Government; | 24 |
| the intensive program focused on the study of
public policy; | 25 |
| her hard work earned her a position as a Toll
Fellow to study | 26 |
| public policy with the National Council of State Legislatures
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| in
Lexington, Kentucky; she was also selected as a Delegate by | 28 |
| the German Marshall
Fund to study job training and vocational | 29 |
| education programs in Germany and
Denmark; in 1994, Penny was | 30 |
| the Democratic nominee
for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, Penny Severns spent the final months of her life | 32 |
| not only fighting cancer, but fighting for the people of |
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| Illinois as a candidate for Secretary of State; and
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| WHEREAS, Penny Severns is also remembered through the Penny | 3 |
| Severns Summer Family Literacy program and the Penny Severns | 4 |
| Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 6 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 7 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the portion of Interstate 72 | 8 |
| lying between Springfield and Decatur be designated as the | 9 |
| Penny Severns Memorial Expressway; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation | 11 |
| is requested to
erect at suitable locations, consistent with | 12 |
| State and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs | 13 |
| giving notice of the name; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 15 |
| presented to the
Secretary of U.S. Department of | 16 |
| Transportation; the Secretary of the Illinois
Department of | 17 |
| Transportation; and the family of
Senator Penny Severns.
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