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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of former State Representative Mary Lou
4Cowlishaw, who passed away on June 23, 2010; and
 
5    WHEREAS, She was born February 20, 1932, in Rockford, to
6Donald George and Mildred Corinne (Hayes) Miller; she graduated
7as valedictorian from West Rockford High School; she majored in
8and received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism at
9the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and did
10post-graduate studies at Northwestern University; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Her honorary degrees included a Doctor of Humane
12Letters degree from North Central College in 1999 and from
13Benedictine University in 2000; at the time of her passing, she
14was an Adjunct Professor of Education at North Central College;
15and
 
16    WHEREAS, She married Wayne Cowlishaw on July 24, 1954; they
17had three children, Beth (David) McDaniel, John (Jane)
18Cowlishaw, and Paula (Andrew) Rader, and eight grandchildren,
19Jacob McDaniel, Zachary, Maxwell, Alexandria, and Rachel
20Green-Cowlishaw, and Emily, Elizabeth, and John Paul (J.P.)
21Rader; she was preceded in death by her parents and her son,
22John; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, She had been a Naperville resident since 1958; she
2served on the Naperville District 203 Board of Education from
31972-1983; prior to her election to the Illinois General
4Assembly in November of 1982, she was a member of the editorial
5staff of the Naperville Sun; in 1981, she won the first place
6annual award for investigative reporting from the Illinois
7Press Association and authored the book "This Band's Been Here
8Quite a Spell..." about the history of the Naperville Municipal
9Band; and
 
10    WHEREAS, She served as the Representative from the 41st
11District from 1983 to 2003; during her 20 years in the
12legislature representing Naperville, she sponsored countless
13proposals, including the Chicago School Reform legislation,
14which became a model for the nation; she also sponsored the
15Education for Homeless Children Act and the legislation
16creating the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy; she
17sponsored changes regarding hospital districts that ultimately
18enabled Naperville's Edward Hospital to go from public to
19private status; she was later credited for "saving" the
20hospital; and
 
21    WHEREAS, House committees she served on during her time in
22the legislature included the Elementary and Secondary
23Education Committee, Public Utilities Committee, Mental Health

 

 

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1and Patient Abuse Committee, Higher Education Appropriations
2Committee, and the Select Committee on Aging; and
 
3    WHEREAS, She was a member of many of Naperville's civic
4organizations; she, along with friends, spearheaded the
5creation of the Naperville Park District; she was a member of
6the Community United Methodist Church for 50 years; she was the
7recipient of many legislative and public service awards,
8including the one that was most special for her, the naming of
9a new elementary school in 1997 in Indian Prairie School
10District 204 as the "Mary Lou Cowlishaw Elementary School"; she
11also received the "Golden Apple" award four times from the
12Illinois Association of School Boards; therefore, be it
 
13    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
14ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with
15her family, friends, and former constituents, the passing of
16Mary Lou Cowlishaw; and be it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
18presented to the family of Mary Lou Cowlishaw as a symbol of
19our sincere sympathy.