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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened
3to learn of the death of Allan Albert Metcalf, Ph.D., who
4passed away on February 24, 2022; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Metcalf was born to George Joseph Metcalf and
6Mary Ellen Stephens in Clayton, Missouri on April 18, 1940; he
7moved with his family to the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago
8as a toddler, when his father accepted a faculty position at
9the University of Chicago; he formed a barbershop quartet boy
10band in his youth; he was an Eagle Scout and earned The Order
11of the Arrow, the highest Boy Scout honor; he graduated the
12University of Chicago Laboratory School as valedictorian in
131957; he received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell
14University in Ithaca, New York in 1961, where he served as
15editor in chief of the Cornell Daily Sun; he received a year's
16fellowship to study at the Free University of Berlin in West
17Berlin, Germany from 1961 to 1962; he earned his Master of Arts
18in English in 1964 and his Ph.D. in English in 1966, both from
19the University of California, Berkeley; he married Teri Flynn,
20and they had four children; and
 
21    WHEREAS, After settling in Southern California, Dr.
22Metcalf began his faculty career as an assistant professor of
23English at the University of California in Riverside from 1966

 

 

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1to 1973; he was invited to become chair of the English
2Department at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois; he
3returned to his home state as a tenured professor of English
4and Journalism at MacMurray College in 1973, where he was an
5esteemed faculty member for 46 years and was named professor
6emeritus; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Dr. Metcalf became a world-renowned linguist and
8dialectologist in between teaching rhetoric; his passion for
9words, their origins, and how people talk led him to be
10appointed executive secretary of the American Dialect Society
11(ADS), a post he held for 41 years, where he originated the
12ADS's now popular Word of the Year vote; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Dr. Metcalf became a celebrated author of eight
14English language books, with his work including OK: The
15Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, From Skedaddle to
16Selfie: Words of the Generations, and Presidential Voices,
17chronicling the speaking styles of U.S. Presidents; his final
18book was The Life of Guy, an entertaining history of one of
19America's favorite pronouns; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Dr. Metcalf was known as a lover of all words
21great and small, written and spoken, from prose to songs and
22sonnets; he loved the Chicago Cubs; while struggling with
23Parkinson's in his final years, he never stopped smiling,

 

 

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1singing, or quipping a pun or word play to the delight of
2others; he will be remembered as a beloved teacher to tens of
3thousands of students and a standout guy who had a positive
4influence on the lives of many; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Metcalf was the husband of Teri; the father
6of Stephen Joseph Metcalf, David Harker Metcalf, Michael
7Bailard Metcalf, and Sara Susanne Metcalf; the grandfather of
8seven; and the older brother of Robert Harker "Bobby" Metcalf;
9therefore, be it
 
10    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL
11ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
12Allan Albert Metcalf, Ph.D. and extend our sincere condolences
13to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be
14it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16presented to the family of Dr. Metcalf as an expression of our
17deepest sympathy.