SR0385 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0385 LRB093 18044 HSS 43730 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois were saddened to learn of the passing of Elsie Lunde Jacobsen, on November 21, 2003; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Jacobsen was the youngest of five children born to Marianne Larsen and Diedrich Lunde of Larvik, Norway; she was a 1936 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin, where she also started her master's study at age 83; and

WHEREAS, In 1946, after being married for eight years and having two children in school, Mrs. Jacobsen was encouraged by her husband to 'start doing something' from which time she never looked back; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Jacobsen was very active in the Oak Park Community during the last six decades, helping to turn Oak Park into the vibrant, interesting village it is today; she worked with the League of Women Voters in leading the local effort to support the formation of a new international organization, called the United Nations; through her work with UNICEF she meet Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson, her hero; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen was elected to the Oak Park/River Forest High School board in 1957, just in time for Sputnik to race across the atmosphere; she eventually became the board's first female president; she was appointed Chair of the Village Beautification Commission in 1968, which developed the concept of the block party to improve neighborhood relations during the tense early years of integration; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen founded the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest after locating a cache of historic photos by Philander Barclay in an Oak Park basement and created a slide show, Then and Now, which she took to schools and organizational functions to educate Oak Parkers about their heritage; in the early 1970s, she helped lead the effort to save the Oak Park Conservatory from the wrecking ball; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen was one of the originators of the Wright Plus house-walk, which evolved out of the celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright's birth; she was integral in the effort to save the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, during which time she established a close relationship with the famous architect's son, Lloyd Wright; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen was one of the organizers of the local Bicentennial celebration in 1976, and the Village's 75th anniversary in 1977; she was one of the organizers and a long-time supporter of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, with whom she traveled to Cuba at the age of 86; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen's involvement was felt across the world, having started the Oak Park Council on International Affairs' School to School program, which has raised funds to build 275 schools or school additions in third world countries; she was especially proud of her favorite project and inspired the national School to School program, a Peace Corps partnership, after proposing it to Sergeant Shriver shortly after President Kennedy started the Peace Corps; and

WHEREAS, Mrs. Jacobsen was preceded in death by her parents, Marianne and Diedrich Lunde; her brothers, Diedrich, Einar, and Walter; her sister Ruth Winney; and her husband, Earl Grant Jacobsen; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Jacobsen's passing was deeply felt by many in Oak Park and across the world, especially by her sons, Erik and Evan; her daughter, Dr. Ellen Jacobsen-Isserman; her four grandsons; and her many friends; therefore be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of Elsie Jacobsen; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Elsie Jacobsen as an expression of our sorrow for their loss.