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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives wish to congratulate Fancie L. Windham of
4Chicago on the occasion of her 100th birthday on June 1, 2014;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham (nee Green) arrived in Chicago from
7Alliceville (Pickens County), Alabama, with 4 small children to
8reunite with her husband, Matt, Sr. in 1942; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham first worked as a beautician at
10Mrs. Parker's Beauty Salon on East 43rd Street; she then worked
11as a floor attendant at Cat's Millinery Company on South Water
12Street in downtown Chicago; she started creating hand-made hats
13for herself, and, due to requests, started selling them to
14others; she opened her first hat shop on East 43rd Street in
151942, operating it until 1968; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham was a self-taught handmade hat and
17clothes/accessory designer; she utilized her family members to
18form a hat modeling troupe; her grandson, Eddie, became her
19personal hat assistant on stage and at the hat shop; she and
20her hat models participated in the annual Bud Billiken parade
21as they rode in a convertible for 35 years; the hat troupe also
22modeled hats at various church and social events throughout

 

 

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1Chicago and surrounding states, including 17 years on the late
2Isabel Joseph Johnson's Rock of Ages Channel 26 TV show and the
3Idlewild (MI) Lot Owners' Association annual August week of
4events finale variety show for 14 years; and
 
5    WHEREAS, During the mid-1940s, Fancie Windham joined The
6Dainty Matrons Social Club, an affiliate group of the Chicago
7Northern District Association (CNDA) of Club Women and Girls,
8Inc.; she then joined the Myrtle McKenzie Self-Realization
9Club; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham has received numerous civic,
11religious awards, and citations, including the late Mrs. Bertha
12Clifton's "Designers Hall of Fame" award; she traveled with the
13Chicago Democratic Women on its 'Route 66' Trip to Washington,
14D.C. as guests of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson at the
15White House; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham is semi-retired and services
17existing hat customers as the country's oldest-known milliner;
18she is the oldest living member of the Evening Star Missionary
19Baptist Church in Chicago; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham's grandson created the Fancie L.
21Windham's Millinery/Accessories Scholarship Foundation for
22aspiring secondary students who desire to pursue a fashion

 

 

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1design degree; the CNDA's building fund is one of the
2foundations's designated benefactors; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Fancie Windham is one of the legendary CNDA
4members; therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
6NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
7we congratulate Fancie L. Windham of Chicago on her 100th
8birthday and wish her many more wonderful years; and be it
9further
 
10    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
11presented to Fancie Windham as an expression of our esteem and
12respect.