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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Pastor Willis Allen Bruce of Alton, who
4passed away on May 26, 2016; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce was born in St. Louis, Missouri to
6Adelaide Irene (Purcell) and Captain Donald Frances Bruce on
7August 14, 1921; he was educated in St. Louis and Alton public
8schools and enlisted in the United States Army shortly after
9his 19th birthday; he served in World War II with the 3443rd
10Quartermaster Truck Company until his Honorable Discharge as a
11Sergeant in 1945; he fought in battles and campaigns in Papua
12New Guinea, and the East Indies; he was a decorated soldier
13receiving multiple ribbons and badges for his courage and
14bravery, including three Battle Stars and six Oversees Bars; he
15married Juanita Katheryn Merriweather at Campbell Chapel AME
16Church in Alton on June 2, 1946; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce retired from Laclede Steel in Alton
18after over 30 years; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce became an ordained minister in the
20early 1970s; he was Pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Alton for
2139 years; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce was the youngest of nine children:
2Francis, Adelaide, Jane, Donald Jr., Irvin, John, Robert, and
3Melvin; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce was preceded in death by his wife of
564 years, Juanita; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Pastor Bruce is survived by his daughters, Ruth
7Ann Bruce Wilson (William Johnson) and Diane Irene Bruce Ross;
8his sons, Charles Allen (Sandra) Bruce and Donald Madison
9Bruce; his grandchildren, Thomas C. Wilson Jr., Jerome M.
10Wilson, Diane B. Wilson, Delano B. Ross III, Jason B. Ross,
11Lyndsay N. Bruce, Gerad D. Bruce, and India J. M. Bruce; his
12great-grandchildren; and a host of friends, neighbors,
13brothers, and sisters; therefore, be it
 
14    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
15ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of
16Pastor Willis Allen Bruce, and extend our sincere condolences
17to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be
18it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
20presented to the family of Pastor Bruce as an expression of our
21deepest sympathy.