SR0153 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0153 LRB095 11894 KXB 35058 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of James W. Ashley of Vermont, formerly of Hinsdale and Chicago, who passed away on April 2, 2007; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was involved with the YMCA as a young attorney and remained active with the organization well into the 1990s; he worked closely with John Root, former president of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago; he was elected chairman of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, having served on the group's board since 1966; he chaired the board of the YMCA of the USA from 1985 to 1987; in the early 1990s, Mr. Ashley headed a task force to rebuild the Jerusalem YMCA, which is owned and operated by the YMCA of the USA and has a staff equally divided among Christians, Jews, and Muslims; after the completion of the Jerusalem project, Mr. Ashley was involved with a project next to the facility's building; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was a partner at McDermott, Will, and Emery, where he chaired the estate planning department; Mr. Ashley grew up in La Grange and graduated from Lyons Township High School; he began taking classes at Fordham University in New York; after the attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force, where he was a navigator in 40 missions over Europe; and

WHEREAS, Returning home from World War II, Mr. Ashley successfully petitioned officials at Northwestern University's law school to be admitted without an undergraduate degree; after his graduation from law school, he worked in the trust department at Continental Bank before joining McDermott, Will, and Emery; he married the former Courtney Coolidge in 1947; they divorced in the mid-1970s, and he married Joan Allbright Crawford in 1975; and

WHEREAS, In addition to staying busy with the YMCA in retirement, Mr. Ashley did a stint as treasurer for Vermont's state Democratic party and served on several local boards; and

WHEREAS, Mr. James Ashley is survived by his wife, Joan; his sons, James Jr., Christopher, Cooper, and John; his daughter, Courtney; his sister, Elizabeth Watson; and 13 grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his family and friends, the passing of James W. Ashley; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of James W. Ashley as a symbol of our sympathy.