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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Jesse Loraine Wade of Scottsdale,
4 Arizona, who passed away on June 9, 2007; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade was born on April 4, 1913, in Valley
6 City; he was the middle son of Jesse Walter and Anna Gregory
7 Wade; he married Margery M. Sawyer on May 19, 1935; in 1949,
8 they had one daughter, Susan; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade graduated from Griggsville High
10 School, where he was an outstanding athlete, particularly in
11 basketball; he attended the University of Illinois at
12 Urbana-Champaign for one year; in 1932, he began his business
13 career with 150 dollars, when he opened a grocery store in
14 Griggsville during the peak of the Great Depression; and
 
15     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943; he
16 completed his basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and was
17 deployed to England in early 1944; he was part of the second
18 advancement to France, landing on the beaches of Normandy on
19 June 7, 1944; he served as a communications specialist with the
20 Third Army, traveling with the second French Armored Division
21 on the eastern march across France, being in Paris on the day
22 it was liberated; after reaching Germany, he was wounded in

 

 

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1 action, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart; he was
2 returned to the United States for medical treatment on the day
3 Germany surrendered; and
 
4     WHEREAS, In 1962, Jesse Wade, with the help of the Trio
5 Manufacturing Company, pioneered the aluminum martin housing
6 industry; by 1965, Griggsville proclaimed itself the Purple
7 Martin Capital of the Nation and erected the "Empire State
8 Building of the Bird World"; soon after, he appeared on the
9 cover of Look Magazine and published his first book, "What You
10 Should Know About the Purple Martin"; in 1966, he formed the
11 Griggsville Wild Bird Society and started publishing the Purple
12 Martin Capital News, which still has international membership
13 and distribution; and
 
14     WHEREAS, In 1968, Jesse Wade was responsible for the first
15 commissioned painting of the Purple Martin since John James
16 Audubon in the mid 1840s; this became the first of a series of
17 50 North American Bird Species which became the foundation for
18 the Governor's State Bird Print program; and
 
19     WHEREAS, During the 1970s and 1980s, he commissioned other
20 artists to paint series of North American mammals, flowers and
21 sporting dogs; he renamed the company Nature House Inc.; he
22 amassed an enormous collection of antique wildlife art and
23 founded two museums; he gained national notoriety when he rode

 

 

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1 across the Mississippi River on the top of Engine 3007 from
2 Quinsippi Island to Quincy; he was written up by countless
3 publications in the U.S., appearing twice on the front page of
4 The Wall Street Journal; he wrote his second book, "Attracting
5 Purple Martins," in 1987; and
 
6     WHEREAS, In the 1990s, Jesse Wade began his favorite and
7 final endeavor; with the help of his daughter and son-in-law,
8 he purchased and developed Perry Springs, a 1200-acre wildlife
9 refuge in the hills north of Griggsville, and Wade Marsh, an
10 80-acre wetlands just north of his birthplace on the Illinois
11 River; he was an avid duck hunter and cherished his times
12 communing with nature; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade was one of the founders of AMPS, a
14 coalition of businessmen and community leaders who lobbied for
15 the completion of Interstate 72 from Springfield to Quincy; he
16 was a member of American Legion Post 213 and ANSAR Shrine; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade was preceded in death by his parents;
18 and his wife; and
 
19     WHEREAS, Jesse Wade was survived by his daughter; his
20 son-in-law, Tom Barr; his nephews, Courtney (JoEllen) Wade, Dr.
21 Mark (Laurie) Wade, and Dr. Michael Wade; his great-nephews and
22 great-niece; and his devoted long-term caretaker, Mimi Hu;

 

 

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1 therefore, be it
 
2     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
3 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
4 his family and friends, the passing of Jesse L. Wade; and be it
5 further
 
6     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
7 presented to the family of Jesse L. Wade as an expression of
8 our sympathy.