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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of former Illinois State Representative and
4State Senator Harber Homer Hall of Bloomington and Longboat
5Key, Florida, who passed away on February 22, 2020; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Sen. Hall was born in Chicago to Harry Homer Hall
7and Dorothy Harber on September 24, 1920; he worked on his
8grandfather Judge Homer William Hall's three successful
9campaigns as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of
10Representatives in 1927, 1929, and 1931; he developed a
11lifelong love of politics from his grandfather; he initially
12attended high school at Bloomington High School before moving
13with his family to the south side of Chicago, where he attended
14Hyde Park High School; one year later, he moved to Moline and
15attended Moline High School; he ultimately graduated from Rock
16Island High School in 1938; he attended the University of Miami
17in Miami, Florida, majoring in business administration; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Sen. Hall enlisted in the armed services one day
19after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941; he worked at
20the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island and then the War
21Department in Washington, D.C.; he enrolled in the U.S. Army
22Air Corps in September 1943; he served his basic training at
23Santa Ana Army Air Base in Santa Ana, California; during World

 

 

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1War II, he was stationed primarily in Guam, where he became a
2radar bombardier with one of two B-29 squadrons located on the
3island; he flew 23 bombing missions over Japan; and
 
4    WHEREAS, After WWII, Sen. Hall re-enlisted in the U.S. Army
5Air Corps; he attended pilot training at Randolph Air Force
6Base in San Antonio, Texas and advanced pilot training at
7Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1947 and
81948; he was stationed at Lowry Air Force Base outside Denver,
9Colorado in 1949; he was later stationed at Lindsey Air Station
10in Wiesbaden, Germany and Rhein-Main Rhein Air Base near
11Frankfurt, Germany; while there, he flew mercy missions as part
12of the Berlin Airlift; he was released from active duty from
13the U.S. Air Force in September 1954 with the rank of
14lieutenant colonel; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Upon his return to Bloomington, Sen. Hall worked
16as the general services manager for the Union Automobile
17Indemnity Association; he also owned and operated a real estate
18brokerage firm; alongside his brother Bud Hall, he developed
19the Crestwicke Country Club in Bloomington; and
 
20    WHEREAS, A Republican, Sen. Hall was elected the McLean
21County treasurer in 1962, a position he held for four years; he
22was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1966
23and was re-elected in 1968 and 1970; he was a delegate to the

 

 

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1Republican National Convention in Miami in 1972; he was elected
2to the Illinois State Senate for the 44th District in 1972; he
3was re-elected to the State Senate in 1976; he retired from the
4Senate in 1979; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Sen. Hall was regarded as a true gentleman,
6treating everyone he met with kindness and respect; he was
7known for his quick wit and clever sense of humor; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Sen. Hall was preceded in death by his parents and
9his sister, Janice Hall Badillo; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Sen. Hall is survived by his son, John S. (Julie)
11Hall; his daughter, Heather (Greg) Shepard; his brother, Harry
12H. "Bud" (Janie) Hall; his nephew, Hudson Harber Hall; his
13niece, Holly Hall Rickert; his grandchildren, Jennifer (Chris)
14Edwards, Harrison Harber Shepard, and Gregory M. Shepard Jr.;
15and his great-granddaughters, Emily and Abigail Edwards;
16therefore, be it
 
17    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
18ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
19former Illinois State Representative and State Senator Harber
20Homer Hall and extend our sincere condolences to his family,
21friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2presented to the family of Sen. Hall as an expression of our
3deepest sympathy.