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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3 learn of the death of Donald E. Drake of Woodstock, who passed
4 away on February 6, 2009; and
 
5     WHEREAS, He was born September 28, 1942, in Biloxi,
6 Mississippi, to Ernest and Doris (Kobel) Drake; he graduated
7 from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, earning both
8 his bachelor's and master's degrees; he took pride in being the
9 first in his family to graduate from college; and
 
10     WHEREAS, He taught at Mattoon High School in Mattoon in the
11 early 1960s; he later moved to Antioch, where he taught
12 economics and managed media services at Antioch High School
13 from 1966 to 1971; the longest span of his professional career
14 was spent at College of Lake County in Grayslake, where he
15 directed the college's audio-visual and instructional media
16 programs from 1971 to 1989 and was heavily involved in
17 development of the college's distance learning programs; and
 
18     WHEREAS, In 1989 he left the college to accept the position
19 of executive director at the Northern Illinois Learning'
20 Resources Cooperative (NILRC), a statewide cooperative that
21 negotiated development and purchase of telecourses and other
22 media products and services for community colleges; he took

 

 

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1 early retirement from education in 1996; and
 
2     WHEREAS, For several years, he worked as a professional
3 photographer, photographing weddings, athletic teams, and
4 families; he also was co-owner of Horizon Travel in Twin Lakes,
5 Wisconsin, and was involved in planning and organizing group
6 cruises; and
 
7     WHEREAS, In 1991 he married Dorothy Regan of Woodstock,
8 also an administrator at College of Lake County; they lived in
9 Woodstock from 1991 to 1995, then relocated to LaCrosse,
10 Wisconsin; they returned to McHenry County in 1998 when Dorothy
11 took the position of vice president for development and
12 director of the college foundation at McHenry County College in
13 Crystal Lake; they lived in Harvard until returning to
14 Woodstock in 2006; and
 
15     WHEREAS, He was a past member of the Woodstock Public
16 Library Board of Directors, a regular volunteer at Illinois
17 State wrestling tournaments, a knowledgeable movie buff, a fan
18 of HO model trains, and an avid traveler; he and his wife
19 returned only three weeks before his death from a vacation in
20 Australia and New Zealand; he took pride in having traveled
21 through 19 countries; he loved all dogs but had a special
22 affection for his basset hound, Morgan; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, He and his wife were members of Resurrection
2 Catholic Church in Woodstock; he took pride in his involvement
3 in the RCIA program in 1991-92, which marked his entry into the
4 Catholic faith; and
 
5     WHEREAS, He was the loving husband of Dorothy (Regan)
6 Drake; the cherished son of Doris (Kobel) Drake; the brother of
7 Karl (Mary) Drake and David (Lynn) Drake; the loving
8 brother-in-law of Barbara (Regan) Pokorny, Michael (Karen)
9 Regan, and John Regan; and the proud uncle of Matthew Drake,
10 Nicholas Drake, Kathleen (John) Slade, Diane (James)
11 Pokorny-Wilson, John J. (Maria) Pokorny, Craig Drake, Missy
12 (John) Bryant, and Jeramy Drake; therefore, be it
 
13     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
14 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
15 his family and friends, the passing of Donald Drake; and be it
16 further
 
17     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18 presented to the family of Donald Drake as a symbol of our
19 sincere sympathy.