HR1378 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1378 LRB094 21092 HSS 59420 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois are pleased to congratulate Bill Wills, editorial page editor of the Bloomington Pantagraph, on the occasion of his retirement after nearly 44 years of service; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Wills started with the Pantagraph in November of 1962 as an office boy; he went on to serve as police and fire reporter and then to cover Bloomington city government; he was named the Pantagraph Employee of the Year by his fellow workers in 1971; from 1975 to 1977, he was the coordinator of Bloomington, Normal, and McLean County government coverage; and

WHEREAS, He moved into the editorial ranks in 1977, when he became city editor; he then went on to serve as metro editor, assistant managing editor/news, managing editor, managing editor/editorial, and finally as editorial page editor; and

WHEREAS, He is an award-winning reporter and photographer and has served on committees of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association; he was a member of the Editorial Steering Committee of the Illinois Press Association and the Board of Directors of the Mid-America Press Institute; he served with the Illinois AP Editors, twice as president, and at one time he held the longest consecutive board term at 12 years; he has been a Penny-Missouri Judge, a member of the Journalist in Space regional screening committee, and a member of the board of directors of the Illinois Editors Highway Safety Conference; and

WHEREAS, He has served as president of the Pantagraphers Federal Credit Union and on the Audit Committee and Credit Committee; and

WHEREAS, Active in the community, Mr. Wills is a former president of the Bloomington Rotary Club, a former secretary of the Bloomington Rotary Club Foundation, and is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, the highest honor given by Rotary; he has served on the OSF St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Community Board, the board of the McLean County chapter of the American Cancer Society, the advisory board and audit committee of the Centrillio Girl Scouts Council, the local chapter of the National Issues Forum Committee, and the Bloomington All-American City Committee; he is a former co-president with his wife of the Bloomington Senior High School Booster Club and is one of the founders of the Booster Club's annual steak fry fundraiser; he served on the ISU Students in Free Enterprise Advisory Board, on the Four Seasons Association board, and on the founding committee of the annual Christmas Party for Children of the Unemployed of McLean County for ten years; he has been a member of Ambucs and on the board of the Adlai Stevenson Lecture Series; and

WHEREAS, He is a native of Mahomet and a graduate of Mahomet High School; he married his wife, Phyllis, in 1962, and they are the parents of Teri, Rick, and Mike and grandparents of five; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Bill Wills on the occasion of his retirement; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Mr. Wills as an expression of our esteem and with best wishes for a relaxing retirement.