SR0803 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0803 LRB095 21924 KXB 52191 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Richard Raymond Bairstow of Waukegan, who passed away on May 21, 2008; and

WHEREAS, Richard Raymond Bairstow was born September 26, 1917 in Waukegan, the son of the late Fred Raymond and Mildred Wright Bairstow; he attended North School and Waukegan Township High School, graduating in 1935; he attended the University of Illinois, graduating in 1939; he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity; he was a student at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City and studied Law at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he was president of his class and a member of the jumping team; and

WHEREAS, After the war he returned to the law school at the University of Illinois; he was a member of Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity and received his Juris Doctorate in 1947; he practiced law in Waukegan and Lake County, was an Assistant State's Attorney, and for 50 years was attorney for the Fox Lake Fire Protection District; he was an Administrative Law Judge for the State of Illinois Department of Revenue in Chicago for 34 years; he helped organize, was attorney for, and he was on the Board of Directors of Little Fort Bank and Trust Company of Waukegan (now Fifth Third Bank); and

WHEREAS, He was a life member of the Lake County, State of Illinois, and American Bar Associations; he was admitted to the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court; he was listed in Who's Who In American Law, In Commerce and Industry, In the Midwest, In America, and In the World; Mr. Bairstow was past president of the Waukegan-North Chicago Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Salvation Army, the Fort Sheridan Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army, and served on the Boards of Directors of the American Red Cross and the YMCA; he was a Republican precinct committeeman for 25 years, was a past president of the Waukegan Township Republican Organization, and was a member of the State Board of Directors of the Young Republicans; and

WHEREAS, He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the horse cavalry, but prior to Pearl Harbor he was sent to Armored Forces School at Fort Knox, Kentucky and became a tanker; he commanded the 5th Tank Battalion the 16th Armored Division; he was in the attacking forces at Omaha Beach in Normandy during the liberation of France; he served in Psychological Warfare, a Special Staff Division of Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces, under General Eisenhower; he was in the campaigns of France, Luxembourg, and Germany in World War II and was in the Information Control Division in the Army of Occupation; he was a graduate of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Army Logistical School; he was an expert in Special Warfare, and for many years commanded the Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Battalion at O'Hare Field in Chicago; he last served under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Special Operations in the Pentagon, and he retired a Colonel after 32 years of service; and

WHEREAS, He was a faithful member of Christ Episcopal Church and the Men's Bible Group; he was Judge Advocate and a life member of the American Legion Homer Dahringer Post and a life member of the Military Officers Association of America; he was also a member of the Elks, Waukegan City Club, the Honest John Club, the Waukegan Historical Society, and Glen Flora Country Club; and

WHEREAS, He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife and the mother of his daughters, Mary Kelley Bairstow; his second wife, Agnes Macaitis Caldwell Bairstow; his brothers, Robert Wright Bairstow and William Royer Bairstow; and his brother-in-law, Clarence Kelley; and

WHEREAS, He is survived by his daughters, Kathleen (James) Young, Suzanne (Lucky) Hicks, and Mary "Mimi' Neely; his stepchildren, Judy (Stanley) Miscichowski and Roy Arthur (Kathleen) Caldwell; his sister-in-law, Valve Kelley; his grandchildren, Jennifer Neely, Joshua, Mary, and John Young, Leigh Ann Miscichowski, and Roy, Patrick, and Kelley Ann Caldwell; his nieces, Betsy (Dan) Morse, Lael (Syd) Yudain, Marsha (Robert) Plagens, and Janice (Edward) Scarbalis; his nephews, Robert (Mary) Bairstow, Andrew (Lowe) Bairstow, and Mark (Susan) Kelley; along with his many other cousins and dear friends; 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 Richard Bairstow; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Richard Bairstow as a symbol of our sincere sympathy.