Full Text of HR0464 94th General Assembly
HR0464 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the | 3 |
| State of Illinois learned with deep sadness of the death of | 4 |
| their former colleague, State Senator Margaret Smith of | 5 |
| Chicago, on Monday, May 16, 2005; and
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| WHEREAS, Senator Smith served 22 years in the Illinois | 7 |
| General Assembly; she was elected to the House of | 8 |
| Representatives in 1980 and served one two-year term there; in | 9 |
| 1982, she was elected to the Senate; she was re-elected to the | 10 |
| Senate six times and served as Senator for 20 years, retiring | 11 |
| from the Senate in December of 2002; and
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| WHEREAS, Her late husband, Fred, served in the General | 13 |
| Assembly for 36 years, from 1943 to 1979; the Smiths were | 14 |
| married in 1955; and
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| WHEREAS, In the General Assembly, Margaret Smith was | 16 |
| nationally recognized for her support of women's health care | 17 |
| and health care affecting children, infants, and the poor; for | 18 |
| nearly a decade, she served as chairperson of the influential | 19 |
| Senate Public Health, Welfare, and Corrections committee, | 20 |
| guiding some of the most pressing and sweeping legislation on | 21 |
| health care through her committee, much of which served as a | 22 |
| model for the nation; she also sponsored legislation requiring | 23 |
| the State to cover mammograms for poor women and requiring | 24 |
| insurance companies to cover mammograms; and
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| WHEREAS, Many health care organizations recognized her | 26 |
| efforts on health care issues; she received the coveted | 27 |
| "Legislator of the Year Award" from every major health care | 28 |
| organization in the State, including the Illinois Nurses | 29 |
| Association, the Illinois Hospital Association, and the | 30 |
| Illinois Health Care Association; and
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| WHEREAS, In the Senate, she also was a leader in promoting | 2 |
| African-American history in Illinois; she authored the | 3 |
| legislation commissioning the sculpture of statues of Adelbert | 4 |
| H. Roberts and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the | 5 |
| portrait of her late husband, Fred J. Smith; and
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| WHEREAS, An extensive traveler, Senator Smith visited | 7 |
| Africa nine times and had been to Europe and Asia, as well as | 8 |
| traveling throughout the United States; many of her travels | 9 |
| were done as part of missionary work she did on behalf of the | 10 |
| Foreign Mission Bureau of the National Baptist Convention; in | 11 |
| honor of her efforts, a school In Haiti was named after her; | 12 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, A graduate of DuSable High School, she graduated | 14 |
| from Tennessee State University in Nashville and has an | 15 |
| honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the Chicago Baptist | 16 |
| Institute; she was a member of the Bethesda Baptist Church, | 17 |
| Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, and the Metropolitan Business | 18 |
| Professional Women; she was a board member of the Ada S. | 19 |
| McKinley Foundation and the Beatrice Caffrey Youth Center; | 20 |
| therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 22 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 23 |
| we mourn the passing of State Senator Margaret Smith, a woman | 24 |
| who demonstrated a devotion to the needs of others in the | 25 |
| General Assembly and in her day-to-day life; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 27 |
| presented to her family as an expression of our sincere | 28 |
| condolences for the loss of their loved one and our friend.
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