HR0874 LRB093 21979 KEF 50231 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives wish to congratulate Judge Odas Nicholson,
4 retired, on being honored as a 2004 Law Day Honoree by the
5 Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church in Chicago; and
 
6     WHEREAS, May 1, 2004 is known as national Law Day to help
7 promote the importance of the legal system in the United
8 States; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Judge Odas Nicholson was born in Pickens,
10 Mississippi and moved north to Chicago at the age of twelve
11 following the death of her mother; after graduating from
12 Marshall High School and Wilson Junior College she was accepted
13 at the University of Chicago, School of Law, and the DePaul
14 School of Law; in 1947, she was the only African American to
15 graduate from the DePaul School of Law in Chicago; and
 
16     WHEREAS, Her need to work while in school in order to
17 finance her education is what inevitably prompted her
18 enrollment at DePaul; presently, she has amassed over 53 years
19 of distinguished service in the legal arena, having been
20 admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1948; and
 
21     WHEREAS, From October 1949 to June of 1973, she represented
22 the Supreme Life Insurance Company of America in all of its
23 litigation in municipal, State, and Federal District Courts
24 first as a Trial Attorney, next as the Assistant General
25 Counsel and Assistant to the General Counsel of Supreme Life
26 Insurance Company; and
 
27     WHEREAS, In 1969, Judge Nicholson was elected as a Delegate
28 to the historic Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention from
29 the 24th Senatorial District of Illinois; she served as the
30 secretary of the convention and considers that one of her

 

 

HR0874 - 2 - LRB093 21979 KEF 50231 r

1 proudest moments; she also served with distinction as a member
2 of the Judiciary Committee and chaired a Special Committee to
3 disseminate information on the new Constitution to the voters
4 of the State; and
 
5     WHEREAS, In 1980, she was elected to the Circuit Court of
6 Cook County; she had previously resigned her position at the
7 Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, where she had been
8 head of the Office of General Counsel for the Chicago and
9 Kansas City Regions, in order to "rest a while"; instead, a
10 friend convinced her to run for a State court judgeship; while
11 on the bench, she handled everything from small claims cases,
12 to juvenile cases, jury trials, and motions; she remained on
13 the bench until her retirement in 1994; therefore, be it
 
14     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
15 NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
16 congratulate Judge Odas Nicholson for being selected as a Law
17 Day 2004 Honoree by the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church
18 and for her lifetime of contributions to the legal community
19 and to the citizens of Illinois; and be it further
 
20     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
21 presented to Judge Odas Nicholson as a token of our respect.