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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Claudia Mary Nash-Thomas of East St.
4 Louis, who passed away on March 16, 2007; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Claudia Nash-Thomas was born in East St. Louis on
6 July 5, 1918; she attended school in School District 189 and
7 graduated from Lincoln School; she attended Southern Illinois
8 University after graduation; she taught in Sparta at Vernon
9 Grade School for three years, and then came to School District
10 189, where she taught for three years; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Her sister, Frances, interested her in becoming a
12 mortician, and she enrolled in St. Louis College of Mortuary
13 Science; following graduation she was licensed in Illinois and
14 Missouri and worked with her father and sister in the business;
15 while working at the funeral home, she met Walter Lee Thomas
16 and they married on March 27, 1947; and
 
17     WHEREAS, She was a life member of St. Luke A.M.E. Church;
18 she served on the Board of Directors for the Comprehensive
19 Mental Health Center of St. Clair County from 1976 to 1991, as
20 a charter member of the East St. Louis Volunteers for Police
21 Safety, as a board member for the Children's Center, and she
22 was very active with the NAACP, becoming a Life Time Member and

 

 

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1 serving as President in the 1940s; she was the first Black
2 President of the YWCA of St. Clair County, and served in many
3 other clubs and organizations as well; and
 
4 WHEREAS, Claudia Nash-Thomas received the Profile of
5 Providence Award for Metro East Women of Achievement in 1980;
6 she received a citation from the 82nd General Assembly of the
7 State of Illinois for Community Service; and many other honors
8 and awards; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Claudia Nash-Thomas was preceded in death by her
10 parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. (Emma C. Edwards) Nash; her
11 sister, M. Frances Nash Terrell; and her brother-in-law, Mr.
12 Edward Terrell; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Mrs. Claudia Nash-Thomas leaves to cherish her
14 memory her loving and devoted daughter, Claudia E. Thomas-
15 Nash; her loving sister, Fredericka J. Nash; her extended
16 family, Mrs. Priscilla Holliway, Mrs. Princetta Farries, and
17 Mrs. Michelle Buchannan; her very close friends, Mrs. Wastic
18 "Brownie" Brown, Mrs. Ossie Kersee, and Dr. Helen Hudlin; her
19 church family, club members, and her friends; therefore, be it
 
20     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
21 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
22 her family and friends, the passing of Claudia Mary

 

 

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1 Nash-Thomas; and be it further
 
2     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3 presented to the family of Claudia Mary Nash-Thomas as a symbol
4 of our sympathy.