HR1378 LRB094 21092 HSS 59420 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the
3 State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate Bill Wills,
4 editorial page editor of the Bloomington Pantagraph, on the
5 occasion of his retirement after nearly 44 years of service;
6 and
 
7     WHEREAS, Mr. Wills started with the Pantagraph in November
8 of 1962 as an office boy; he went on to serve as police and fire
9 reporter and then to cover Bloomington city government; he was
10 named the Pantagraph Employee of the Year by his fellow workers
11 in 1971; from 1975 to 1977, he was the coordinator of
12 Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County government coverage;
13 and
 
14     WHEREAS, He moved into the editorial ranks in 1977, when he
15 became city editor; he then went on to serve as metro editor,
16 assistant managing editor/news, managing editor, managing
17 editor/editorial, and finally as editorial page editor; and
 
18     WHEREAS, He is an award-winning reporter and photographer
19 and has served on committees of the Associated Press Managing
20 Editors Association; he was a member of the Editorial Steering
21 Committee of the Illinois Press Association and the Board of
22 Directors of the Mid-America Press Institute; he served with
23 the Illinois AP Editors, twice as president, and at one time he
24 held the longest consecutive board term at 12 years; he has
25 been a Penny-Missouri Judge, a member of the Journalist in
26 Space regional screening committee, and a member of the board
27 of directors of the Illinois Editors Highway Safety Conference;
28 and
 
29     WHEREAS, He has served as president of the Pantagraphers
30 Federal Credit Union and on the Audit Committee and Credit
31 Committee; and
 

 

 

HR1378 - 2 - LRB094 21092 HSS 59420 r

1     WHEREAS, Active in the community, Mr. Wills is a former
2 president of the Bloomington Rotary Club, a former secretary of
3 the Bloomington Rotary Club Foundation, and is a Rotary Paul
4 Harris Fellow, the highest honor given by Rotary; he has served
5 on the OSF St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Community Board,
6 the board of the McLean County chapter of the American Cancer
7 Society, the advisory board and audit committee of the
8 Centrillio Girl Scouts Council, the local chapter of the
9 National Issues Forum Committee, and the Bloomington
10 All-American City Committee; he is a former co-president with
11 his wife of the Bloomington Senior High School Booster Club and
12 is one of the founders of the Booster Club's annual steak fry
13 fundraiser; he served on the ISU Students in Free Enterprise
14 Advisory Board, on the Four Seasons Association board, and on
15 the founding committee of the annual Christmas Party for
16 Children of the Unemployed of McLean County for ten years; he
17 has been a member of Ambucs and on the board of the Adlai
18 Stevenson Lecture Series; and
 
19     WHEREAS, He is a native of Mahomet and a graduate of
20 Mahomet High School; he married his wife, Phyllis, in 1962, and
21 they are the parents of Teri, Rick, and Mike and grandparents
22 of five; therefore, be it
 
23     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
24 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
25 we congratulate Bill Wills on the occasion of his retirement;
26 and be it further
 
27     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
28 presented to Mr. Wills as an expression of our esteem and with
29 best wishes for a relaxing retirement.