SR0132 LRB096 11918 KXB 23171 r

1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of longtime radio broadcaster and
4 commentator Paul Harvey, whose show reached over 24 million
5 listeners around the world, and who passed away on February 28,
6 2009; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Paul Harvey Aurandt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on
8 September 4, 1918; his mother raised him and his sister after
9 the tragic death of his father, a police officer killed in the
10 line of duty when his son was only three; Paul Harvey dropped
11 his last name for professional reasons in the 1940s; and
 
12     WHEREAS, He developed an early love for radio and would
13 pick up stations on a homemade cigar-box crystal set; he began
14 his career as an unpaid station gofer at KVOO radio in Tulsa in
15 1933; he attended Tulsa University while working at KVOO; and
 
16     WHEREAS, In 1939 he moved to KXOK radio in St. Louis,
17 Missouri, where he met his future wife, Lynne; he proposed to
18 her on their first date and they married in June of 1940; he
19 would call her by his pet name for her, "Angel", the rest of
20 their lives; and
 
21     WHEREAS, He traveled to Hawaii to broadcast for the United

 

 

SR0132 - 2 - LRB096 11918 KXB 23171 r

1 States Navy in 1940 and was on a ship two days out of Pearl
2 Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941; upon his
3 return to the States he was named director of news and
4 information for the Office of War Information for Michigan and
5 Indiana; he enlisted in the United States Air Force and moved
6 to Chicago after receiving a medical discharge in 1944; there
7 he joined WENR-ABC news; and
 
8     WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was known for his radio show, The Rest
9 of the Story, where he would tell stories of human interest,
10 and as he would describe them, "Would Aunt Betty care about
11 this"?; he is credited with coining the words "guesstimate,"
12 "trendency," "Reaganomics," and "snoopervision"; in the year
13 2000 he signed a reported $100 million contract that would keep
14 him broadcasting for the next ten years; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He was heard in Chicago on WGN-AM radio and across
16 the globe on American Forces Radio; he wrote a syndicated news
17 column and was the author of three books, Remember These
18 Things, Autumn of Liberty, and The Rest of the Story; he and
19 his wife were inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame, and in
20 2005 he was one of fourteen recipients of the Presidential
21 Medal of Freedom; and
 
22     WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was preceded in death by his wife,
23 Lynne "Angel" Harvey; he is survived by his son, Paul Harvey

 

 

SR0132 - 3 - LRB096 11918 KXB 23171 r

1 Jr.; therefore, be it
 
2     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
3 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
4 his friends, family, and listeners around the world, the
5 passing of Paul Harvey; and be it further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 presented to Paul Harvey Jr. as a symbol of our sincere
8 sympathy at the passing of his father, Paul Harvey.