SR0875 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0875 LRB094 21925 KXB 60388 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Elmer Jenkins of Benton, Illinois, who passed away on November 3, 2006; and

WHEREAS, He was born May 5, 1920, in Westville, to Anna (Lepengy) and Fred Jenkins; and

WHEREAS, Elmer could read before he began grammar school, and he read the newspaper to people who gathered at the neighborhood grocery in the morning; and

WHEREAS, He was Benton High School class president all four years and played violin in the school orchestra; he later taught himself to play the clarinet; Elmer loved classical music and New Orleans Dixieland, and his favorite song was clarinetist Pete Fountain's rendition of "Just a Closer Walk with Thee"; and

WHEREAS, Following his high school graduation, Elmer joined the United States Navy, serving at sea as part of the engine room "black gang" crew; while in the Navy and prior to World War II, he sailed U.S. ships as part of the United States Lend Lease effort; he completed his Navy tour serving on a tugboat based in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, having traversed the Panama Canal eight times; and

WHEREAS, He entered the University of Illinois after his tour of duty, but left school the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and signed up for air cadet training in the U.S. Army Air Corps; he earned his wings and was commissioned as an officer; during World War II, Elmer served in Australia and the Philippines as a test and transport pilot with the 5th Air Force, 15th Air Depot Group; he flew nurses out of a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, supervised the reassembly of P-47s that had come from the United States, carried parts and retrieved downed planes, tested newly repaired planes, and flew almost every airship in our country's arsenal, his favorite was the P-38; while in the Army Air Corps, Elmer met two fellow servicemen who became special friends for a lifetime: Joe Kirkham and Danny Scruggs; Elmer left the service with the rank of captain; and

WHEREAS, Upon returning from World War II, he entered the University of Illinois College of Law; and

WHEREAS, While he was attending law school, he held down three jobs to pay expenses and support his growing family; after he graduated from law school and successfully passed the Illinois bar exam, Elmer worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Kansas City, Missouri office; he later returned to Benton, where he entered private practice in 1948; and

WHEREAS, For many years, Elmer was retained by Freeman Coal Company as its compensation attorney; early in his professional career as an attorney, Elmer clerked for the Illinois Supreme Court, and in 2003, he was named an Illinois State Bar Association laureate; and

WHEREAS, He was a member of the Benton Masonic Lodge, a 75-year member of the First Baptist Church of Benton, and was a Shriner; he enjoyed golf, skiing, traveling, his dogs, trail riding on horseback, gardening, the Benton Rangers, and seeing the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series; and

WHEREAS, Elmer Jenkins was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Louis; he is survived by his wife, Lois Jenkins; his daughters, Nancy Hobbs and her husband, Larry, Patty Novara, Ellen Curry and her husband, David, and Kathleen DaNato and her husband, Rick; his stepchildren, Mark Samuels, Lyndy Girten and her husband, Don, and Terrie Vercellino and her husband, Steve; his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; his brother, Fred; and his many friends; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Elmer Jenkins; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Elmer Jenkins.