093_HR0463
LRB093 13149 HSS 18411 r
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of
3 the State of Illinois are pleased to honor citizens that have
4 made outstanding contributions to the State of Illinois; and
5 WHEREAS, Marie LeBeau was born in New Orleans; she was
6 raised a devout Catholic and studied business at the former
7 Straight College; she visited Chicago at the age of 20 and
8 met Charles Wilkinson on a blind date in Aurora; she moved to
9 Illinois in 1927, where she married Mr. Wilkinson in 1930;
10 they were married for 60 years, until Mr. Wilkinson passed
11 away; and
12 WHEREAS, Mr. and Mrs. Wilkinson moved into a modest
13 two-level home on Aurora's North View Street, now bearing
14 Mrs. Wilkinson's name; their home was known simply as
15 "Marie's house", where the poor, the hungry, the displaced,
16 the unemployed, the sick, and the mistreated were welcome;
17 and
18 WHEREAS, Mrs. Wilkinson first became an active voice in
19 the community when she took an interest in Hispanic factory
20 workers, pulling them from the boxcars they were living in,
21 with no electricity, water, or even shoes; she worked on
22 behalf of the factory workers and convinced the factory
23 owners to provide year-round work for the employees; she went
24 on to challenge City Hall to provide schools and adequate
25 housing for the many people that had moved to Aurora; and
26 WHEREAS, Mrs. Wilkinson publicized the needs of those
27 whom community leaders and media outlets once preferred to
28 ignore; she helped to launch more than 60 charitable
29 organizations, including Feed the Hungry Program, Hesed House
30 Homeless Shelter, Breaking Free Drug Program, the Catholic
31 Social Action Conference, SciTech Youth Science Museum, and
32 the local chapter of the Urban League; she established
-2- LRB093 13149 HSS 18411 r
1 college funds for underprivileged children and inclusion
2 guidelines for the disabled; and
3 WHEREAS, In the late 1940s, when Mrs. Wilkinson was
4 refused seating at a local diner because she was
5 African-American, she won her case before the State Appellate
6 Court; through the Human Relations Commission that she
7 founded in 1964, she is credited with the first Fair Housing
8 Ordinance in Illinois; and
9 WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Mrs. Wilkinson saw the need for
10 child care for the children of single mothers; with a group
11 of other concerned residents, Mrs. Wilkinson raised $46,000
12 for a child-care center in Aurora; the Marie Wilkinson Child
13 Development Center thrives today; and
14 WHEREAS, Mrs. Wilkinson has been honored for her
15 unselfish contributions to her fellow travelers in Aurora; in
16 October of 2002, Mrs. Wilkinson was presented with the
17 Catholic Church's highest honor for missionary work in
18 America, The Lumen Christi Award, meaning Light of Christ;
19 therefore, be it
20 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22 we honor Marie Wilkinson's many contributions to the citizens
23 of Aurora and the State of Illinois by proclaiming Wednesday,
24 September 3, 2003 as Marie Wilkinson Day in the State of
25 Illinois; and be it further
26 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
27 presented to Marie Wilkinson as an expression of our respect
28 and esteem for the endless work she has done on behalf of
29 others, without regard to self.