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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Homer L.
4Ward, Sr. of Robbins, who passed away on December 30, 2010; and
 
5    WHEREAS, He was born in New Boston, Texas, on June 5, 1919,
6to Annie McFarland and Bloxie Wade; the family moved north to
7Evanston when he was only two or three years old; he attended
8both the Evanston and later the Chicago Public Schools; he met
9his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Riddick, while attending public
10school in Chicago; and
 
11    WHEREAS, His mother sent him back to Texas to live with her
12sister, Della, and her family; while there, he developed his
13lifelong passion for hunting and fishing and a love and
14appreciation for nature and the environment; he later returned
15to Chicago and renewed his pursuit of Mary Riddick, as well as
16working with the Illinois Conservation Corps Camp and the WPA;
17he and his wife were married in 1940; and
 
18    WHEREAS, He enlisted in the United States Army in 1944; he
19was chosen for the special pilot training program for
20"Coloreds" in the Air Corps division in Tuskegee, Alabama; the
21men in the program became the Tuskegee Airmen; he served in the
22military until the end of World War II and returned to Chicago;

 

 

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1in 1949, he moved to Robbins; and
 
2    WHEREAS, He designed, with the help of a few good friends,
3and built his Robbins home; he became a Master Mason in 1954
4and is a lifetime member of the Alpha & Omega Lodge #121 Free &
5Accepted Masons, Prince Hall Affiliation; he was an early
6member of the Robbins Rod & Gun Club; he was a Hunter Safety
7Instructor for the Illinois Wildlife Federation, Law
8Enforcement Division; He was a Range Master and Trainer for,
9and member of, the Robbins Police Department; he was an elected
10Commissioner of the Robbins Park District; and for many years
11he was the maintenance superintendent for the Housing Authority
12of the County of Cook in Robbins; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Homer Ward, Sr. is survived by his children, Mary,
14June, and Homer, Jr.; his grandchildren; his
15great-grandchildren; and his great-great-grandchildren;
16therefore, be it
 
17    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
18NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
19mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of Homer
20Ward, Sr.; and be it further
 
21    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
22presented to the family of Homer Ward, Sr. as a symbol of our

 

 

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1sincere sympathy.