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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Gene | ||||||
4 | Vanderport, who passed away on June 25, 2016; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was a native of Danville; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was a graduate of the University | ||||||
7 | of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; after graduation, he served | ||||||
8 | veterans by working as a social worker at the Veterans | ||||||
9 | Administration Hospital in Danville; and
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10 | WHEREAS, While serving the veterans at the Veterans | ||||||
11 | Administration Hospital, Gene Vanderport began his lifetime of | ||||||
12 | service to working people by assuming a leadership position at | ||||||
13 | the American Federation of Government Employees union in the | ||||||
14 | hospital; and
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15 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was so successful in that union | ||||||
16 | leadership position at the Veterans Administration Hospital | ||||||
17 | that he was called to the union's federal level; from there, he | ||||||
18 | was sent across the country as an organizer; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport had such an enormous commitment to | ||||||
20 | public education and teachers, students, and support staff in |
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1 | the schools that he left Washington, D.C. and returned to | ||||||
2 | Illinois as a Uniserve Director for the Illinois Education | ||||||
3 | Association of East Central Illinois; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport has made major contributions to | ||||||
5 | the civic and social activity of Urbana-Champaign; he is a | ||||||
6 | co-founder of many organizations, such as Socialist Forum, the | ||||||
7 | Living Wage Association of Central Illinois, and the Mother | ||||||
8 | Jones Chapter of Jobs with Justice, the only Illinois chapter | ||||||
9 | outside of Chicago; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport has lent his skills to workers who | ||||||
11 | were not in his own union, such as the Staley workers in | ||||||
12 | Decatur and the Campus Coalition of Workers at the University | ||||||
13 | of Illinois; in his last days, he was on the picket line with | ||||||
14 | workers from Clifford-Jacobs in Champaign, the Non-Tenure | ||||||
15 | Track Faculty Union at the University of Illinois, and | ||||||
16 | students, workers, and families protesting the recent and | ||||||
17 | drastic State budget cuts; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Gene Vanderport was not only in solidarity with | ||||||
19 | and actively supportive of many human or civil rights movements | ||||||
20 | of marginalized or oppressed people, whether they were | ||||||
21 | unionized workers or not, he also spent his time and energy | ||||||
22 | advancing the causes of social justice, labor rights, and | ||||||
23 | political and economic opportunity; therefore, be it
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1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
2 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
3 | we, along with his family and friends, mourn the passing of | ||||||
4 | Gene Vanderport; and be it further
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5 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
6 | presented to the family of Gene Vanderport as an expression of | ||||||
7 | our sympathy.
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