093_HR0172
LRB093 11397 KEF 13896 r
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of
3 the State of Illinois were saddened to learn of the death of
4 eight British soldiers and four United States Marines when a
5 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait about nine
6 miles away from the border with Iraq on March 20, 2003; and
7 WHEREAS, The four Marines are Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36,
8 of Waterville, Maine; Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30, of St.
9 Anne, Illinois; Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25, of Houston,
10 Texas; and Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Watersbey, 29, of
11 Baltimore, Maryland; and
12 WHEREAS, Capt. Beaupre, attached to the 1st Marine
13 Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, California was
14 the pilot of the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and was born on
15 December 10, 1972 in St. Anne, Illinois, a town of
16 approximately 1,300 persons 60 miles south of Chicago; and
17 WHEREAS, He graduated from Bishop McNamara High School in
18 Kankakee in 1991 where he captained the track and cross
19 country teams and ran the lead-off leg to win the 1991 State
20 championship of the 1,600-meter relay; and
21 WHEREAS, He majored in accounting at Illinois Wesleyan
22 University, graduated in 1995 and took a job with State Farm
23 Insurance; and
24 WHEREAS, At Illinois Wesleyan, Capt. Beaupre was on the
25 Dean's List, was the recipient of the Growmark Outstanding
26 Accounting Major Award in 1994, was a member and treasurer of
27 Sigma Pi social fraternity, competed in cross country and
28 track, was a recruitment peer at the University's Career
29 Center for two years, was a member of the Accounting Society,
30 and was a volunteer at "Home-Sweet-Home" mission, a homeless
31 shelter and transitional housing program in Bloomington; and
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1 WHEREAS, He chose to serve his country as a Marine to
2 pursue a life-long dream of becoming a pilot, and after
3 officer candidates' school in Virginia, was stationed in
4 Pensacola, Florida and in Corpus Christi, Texas before Camp
5 Pendleton, where he lived near the ocean and surfed nearly
6 every day; and
7 WHEREAS, The passing of Capt. Ryan Beaupre will be deeply
8 felt by all who knew him, especially his father, Mark
9 Beaupre; his mother, Nicky Beaupre; his brother, Christopher
10 Beaupre; and his sisters, Alyse Beaupre and Kari Leisure;
11 therefore, be it
12 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
14 together with his family, friends, educators, community, and
15 fellow members of the United States armed forces, we mourn
16 the death of Capt. Ryan Beaupre, who will be remembered as
17 bright, dependable, generous, and confident, and offer our
18 deepest sympathy to all who knew and loved him; and be it
19 further
20 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
21 presented to the family of Capt. Ryan Beaupre as an
22 expression of our sincerest condolences.