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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Pearl Lucrecia McCoy, "Mama Pearl", was born in | ||||||
| 3 | Lake Village, Arkansas on January 23, 1912; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, She received her lower and middle grade education | ||||||
| 5 | in Lake Village, Arkansas, and attended Sipio Jones High School | ||||||
| 6 | and Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, She was teaching other children by the age of 23; | ||||||
| 8 | and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, She married Fred Mason on August 23, 1933, and | ||||||
| 10 | they were married 53 years; this union was blessed with 8 | ||||||
| 11 | children, Freddie Mae, Ozell, Joyce, Carol, Perry, Veda, | ||||||
| 12 | Cynthia, and Joni; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, She belonged to St. Matthews Parish, where her | ||||||
| 14 | youngest 2 children attended grade school; she annually | ||||||
| 15 | volunteered at the St. Matthews School fundraiser as well as | ||||||
| 16 | St. Francis Cabrini Schools; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, She played Bingo weekly at St. Francis Cabrini | ||||||
| 18 | where her second eldest child, Ozell, was school principal for | ||||||
| 19 | many years; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, Her relationship working with noted interior | ||||||
| 2 | designers and producing exquisitely detailed productions of | ||||||
| 3 | their designs garnered the attention of one of Chicago's | ||||||
| 4 | leading newspapers; she was a production supervisor for P. J. | ||||||
| 5 | Gould and Flexi Mat Corporations until her retirement at 65 | ||||||
| 6 | years of age; at that time, she was the only Black female | ||||||
| 7 | production supervisor in the pillow and bedding industry; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, In 2008, at age 96, she and her 92 year old | ||||||
| 9 | brother, Isaac, volunteered at the Michigan City, Indiana, | ||||||
| 10 | Barack Obama Campaign Headquarters; therefore, be it
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| 11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 12 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 13 | we congratulate Pearl McCoy on her 100th birthday and | ||||||
| 14 | affectionately declare the last century the Century of Pearl | ||||||
| 15 | Mason; and be it further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 17 | presented to Pearl McCoy as a symbol of our respect and esteem.
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