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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Hazel Renfroe will celebrate her 100th birthday on
3 Saturday, June 18, 2005; and
 
4     WHEREAS, She was born in Chicago on Sunday, June 18, 1905;
5 she attended Chicago Public Schools and graduated from Bowen
6 High School; she received her Teacher's Certificate from
7 Chicago Normal College and went on to earn a Bachelor's Degree
8 from the University of Chicago; she also earned a Master of
9 Science in art education from the Illinois Institute of
10 Technology, which included one year of study at the Sorbonne in
11 Paris, France, on a scholarship; she studied painting in Paris,
12 France, in the summer of 1950 and interior design at
13 Northwestern University; and
 
14     WHEREAS, During World War II, Ms. Renfroe volunteered 100
15 hours with the Red Cross as part of the Women's Defense Corps
16 of America; she taught gas mask and messenger courses to adults
17 in Pekin District, O.C.D., and acted as a chaperon for young
18 ladies invited by soldiers to parties at southern Illinois
19 camps; she was cited by the Treasury Department for topping the
20 million dollar mark in the sale of War Stamps and Bonds in
21 Negro hotels in Chicago; and
 
22     WHEREAS, Her lifelong passion was her avocation - teaching;
23 she was an art teacher at various Chicago schools, where she
24 rose through the ranks from Elementary Art Instructor to
25 Supervisor of Arts; she directed and taught both Adult and
26 Children's Arts & Crafts programs, served on textbook
27 committees that selected the art books used in Chicago's Public
28 Schools, was a member of the committee which revised DePaul
29 University's Teacher-Training Program, and was a regular
30 member of visiting committees of the North Central Association
31 of Secondary Schools and Colleges to evaluate facilities
32 accreditation, curricula, and faculties with regard to their

 

 

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1 Art Departments; and
 
2     WHEREAS, Ms. Renfroe was politically active; in 1964, she
3 organized 250 women for President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Career
4 Women for the Great Society"; this effort was so successful
5 that Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley asked her to direct the
6 telephone bank for his third campaign for re-election; and
 
7     WHEREAS, She is a founding member of the South Side
8 Community Art Center, the Metropolitan Council of Negro Women,
9 and the Chicago Women's Division of the United Negro College
10 Fund, and a charter member of the Bravo Chapter of the Lyric
11 Opera, the Chicago Chapter of Girl Friends, and the North Shore
12 Chapter of Links, Inc.; she is a member of Trinity Episcopal
13 Church, several bridge clubs, and the Board of the City
14 Associates of the Art Institute; and
 
15     WHEREAS, She has, at various times subsequent to her
16 retirement, served on advisory committees for African-American
17 Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum, and the
18 Chicago Historical Society; and
 
19     WHEREAS, In 1993, Ms. Renfroe was elected to membership in
20 the National Association for Female Executives, having opened
21 her own art consulting firm, and is listed in both the first
22 "Who's Who Among Black Americans" and the "International Who's
23 Who of Professional and Business Women"; therefore, be it
 
24     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
25 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
26 we congratulate Hazel Renfroe on reaching the distinguished
27 mark of her 100th birthday, and we thank her for the incredible
28 contributions she has made to the art community in the State of
29 Illinois; and be it further
 
30     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be

 

 

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1 presented to Ms. Renfroe as an expression of our deepest
2 respect and esteem and with best wishes for a wonderful
3 celebration in honor of her birthday.