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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Eliza House of Lockport, who passed away
4on June 28, 2020; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Eliza House was born to Cicero and Bertha Bullock
6in Edgecomb County, North Carolina on December 30, 1923; she
7was a talented student and participated in school district
8competitions for public speaking, sports, and dance while in
9high school; in her last year of high school, she moved to
10Portsmith, Virginia to work for the wartime National Youth
11Administration in the Navy yard; while there, she also attended
12classes in the evening and met her future husband, Deacon
13Thomas R. House; and
 
14    WHEREAS, After moving to Lockport, Eliza House began
15working various jobs; at one point, she obtained her beauty
16license and began doing hair in her kitchen on the weekends;
17she also worked for S.W. Sickles and then in the maintenance
18department at Caterpillar Tractor Co. in Joliet; she become the
19first female security guard at Caterpillar and retired from
20Caterpillar after 27 years of service; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Eliza House became a founding member
22of The Order of the Eastern Star, Ruth Chapter #9; in the late

 

 

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11960s, she played on the Caterpillar women's baseball and
2basketball teams; she was a proud and active member of Shiloh
3MB Church, where she served in the Senior Choir and Greater
4United Choir, managed the children's choir for many years, was
5a Sunday school teacher for over 30 years, and was a member of
6the Home Mission Ministry; after retirement, she served as a
7foster grandparent at Fairmont Elementary School and did other
8volunteer work at the school into her 80s; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Eliza House lived her life with a great
10commmitment to excellence; she loved to travel and felt
11particularly blessed to visit Israel in the 1980s; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Eliza House was preceded in death by her husband,
13Deacon Thomas R. House; her parents, Cicero and Bertha; her
14son, Tommy House; and nine siblings; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Eliza House is survived by her siblings, Elizabeth
16Washington, Clarence Bullock, and David Bullock; her children,
17Rhonda Bailey, Richard (Robbie) House, Lorna House, and Bryan
18(Leah) House Sr.; her grandchildren, Carlos Hayes, Tamekeyo
19(Sinatra) Griffin, Tanya House, Kaleah Bailey, Brenton Bailey,
20Rishawn House, Ryan House, Brittney House, Bryan House Jr.,
21Jory House, Rakelle House, Brooklyn House, Liam Gulmi, and
22Marcus House; and her host of great-grandchildren, nieces, and
23nephews; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
2ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
3Eliza House and extend our sincere condolences to her family,
4friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
6presented to the family of Eliza House as an expression of our
7deepest sympathy.