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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Winton Udell Solberg, who passed away on
4July 10, 2019; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg was born on a farm near Aberdeen,
6South Dakota to Ole A. and Bertha G. Tschappat Solberg on
7January 11, 1922; he completed public school in Aberdeen, South
8Dakota in 1939; he graduated from the University of South
9Dakota magna cum laude with a degree in history and political
10science in 1943; he married Constance "Connie" Walton in New
11York City on November 8, 1952; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg was inducted into the United States
13Army and sent to Officers' Candidate School at Fort Benning,
14Georgia; he was commissioned a second lieutenant on May 27,
151943 and trained troops for over a year; on September 10, 1944,
16he sailed for Europe, arriving in England a week later; he
17landed on Omaha Beach on September 20, 1944 and joined the
18115th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division near the
19battlefront at Aachen, Germany; an officer in a heavy weapons
20platoon, he was on the northern flank of the Allied
21Expeditionary Forces, and his unit fought in the Battle of the
22Bulge, after which it advanced to the Elbe River; after the
23European War ended, he served more than a year in Germany in

 

 

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1the Army of Occupation; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg was called back to the Army during
3the Korean War, serving as an instructor at West Point's U.S.
4Military Academy; he continued his military service by
5lecturing at the Army Command General Staff School and the Army
6War College, as well as through summer duties as a Reserve
7Officer; he retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in
81982; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg earned both a master's degree and a
10doctorate in American history from Harvard University; he
11taught history at Yale University from 1954 until 1958, then at
12Macalaster College in St. Paul, Minnesota; he joined the
13history department of the University of Illinois at
14Urbana-Champaign in 1961; during his academic career, he taught
15American history around the world, including as a Fulbright
16professor in Bologna, Italy, at Moscow State University in the
17USSR, and at the University of Calcutta, India; he held
18professorships at Konan University in Kobe, Japan, at Loyola
19University in Madras, India, and at St. Stephen's in Delhi,
20India; the University of South Dakota conferred an honorary
21degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon him in 1987; the
22University of Illinois awarded him its highest campus honor,
23the Chancellor's Medallion, in 2017; he retired from the
24University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1991; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, During his career, Winton Solberg played an active
2role in the governance of higher education, serving as chairman
3of the history department, a member of the Senate on the Urbana
4campus, secretary of the University Senates' Conference in the
51970s, president of the Urbana chapter of the American
6Association of University Professors (AAUP), a member of the
7Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure of the AAUP, and vice
8president of the AAUP; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg's expertise was American
10intellectual and cultural history; he received several awards
11for excellence in teaching and kept in touch with many former
12students; his books and articles covered various topics in
13American thought and culture over the nation's history,
14including the formation of the American constitution, the
15Puritan Sabbath in early America, scientific knowledge in early
16America, and the history of U.S. higher education; he wrote two
17volumes on the history of the University of Illinois from its
18beginning to 1904, a book on Illinois' College of Medicine from
191880 to 1920, and a volume on the Big Ten athletic conference
20from 1985 to 1945; his book Arctic Mirage: The 1913-1920
21Expedition in Search of Crocker Land is in press at MacFarland
22Publishers; the last volume in his series on the history of the
23University of Illinois is in preparation for the U of I Press,
24thanks to the help of his friend, colleague, and early graduate

 

 

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1student, David Hoeveler; he was writing and researching until
2his last years and had occupied a study for over 50 years in
3the University of Illinois main library, where he worked
4assiduously, many days a week, until he was 96; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg was preceded in death by his wife,
6Connie; his parents; and his brothers, Elmo and Lincoln; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Winton Solberg is survived by his children, Gail
8(Giulio Nicita), Andrew (Yasemin Ciftci), and Kristin (David
9Seyler); and his grandchildren, Suzanne, Tarkan, Matthew, and
10Benjamin Solberg, Giulia and Marta Nicita, and John and Stuart
11Seyler; therefore, be it
 
12    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
13ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
14Winton Udell Solberg and extend our sincere condolences to his
15family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it
16further
 
17    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18presented to the family of Winton Solberg as an expression of
19our deepest sympathy.