Full Text of SR1090 96th General Assembly
SR1090 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Dr. Robert L. Johnson, Sr. of Chicago; | 4 | | and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Robert Johnson was born in Helena, Arkansas on | 6 | | July 27, 1930; he was one of five children born to Joe Johnson, | 7 | | Sr. and Catherine Chatman Johnson; he attended Helena schools | 8 | | and graduated from Eliza Miller High School in Helena, | 9 | | Arkansas; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, His love of learning and football led him to | 11 | | attend Xavier University on a football scholarship where he met | 12 | | his soul-mate, Mercedes Sylvest, who would later become his | 13 | | wife and mother of their five daughters and one son; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Johnson received his Master of Science degree | 15 | | from the University of Chicago in 1954, and later graduated | 16 | | from the Illinois College of Optometry in 1960; in 1959, he | 17 | | co-founded Plano Child Development Center and as President of | 18 | | Plano, thousands of families have seen remarkable improvements | 19 | | in school achievement and behavior through low-cost and | 20 | | sometimes free vision health education, vision exams, and | 21 | | vision therapy; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, As a community activist, Dr. Johnson helped to | 2 | | elect Mayor Harold Washington the first African-American mayor | 3 | | of Chicago, and his childhood friend, President John H. | 4 | | Stroger, Jr. the first African-American president of the Cook | 5 | | County Board of Commissioners, along with other local | 6 | | politicians; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, In the 1970s, he organized Vision Health | 8 | | Management Systems Inc., a vision Preferred Provider | 9 | | Organization (PPO) in Chicago, Washington, DC, New Orleans, and | 10 | | Atlanta, serving thousands of employees in city, county, and | 11 | | State governments; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, | 13 | | Inc., the Optometric Extension Program (OEP), the Illinois | 14 | | Optometric Association (IOA), the American Optometric | 15 | | Association (AOA), the National Optometric Association (NOA), | 16 | | and the College of Vision Development (COVD); and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Because of his expertise in the area of vision, he | 18 | | served as a consultant to the Woodlawn Experimental School | 19 | | Project and the Chicago Board of Education Area A School Mental | 20 | | Health Project to Advance Creativity in Education; he served as | 21 | | a consultant for "Project Healthy" which evaluated the | 22 | | effectiveness of the Headstart Program; he served as a | 23 | | consultant for the U.S. Postal Service to establish vision |
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| 1 | | standards of certain job categories; and he was the first | 2 | | African-American to receive a fellowship in the College of | 3 | | Vision Development (COVD); and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, He organized an associate degree program for | 5 | | training of optometric technicians that graduated some of the | 6 | | first minority technicians in the field; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Johnson was a faithful member of Mt. Calvary | 8 | | Missionary Baptist Church, located on Chicago's Southside, | 9 | | where he served many years as Chairman of the Trustee Board | 10 | | until his death; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Because of his unselfish contributions to | 12 | | individuals and groups in all walks of life, he received many | 13 | | accolades from professional, civic, educational, and religious | 14 | | organizations; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Dr. Robert L. Johnson was preceded in death by his | 16 | | daughter Carol (husband, Larry) Fitzgerald; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, The passing of Dr. Robert L. Johnson will be felt | 18 | | by all who knew and loved him, especially his wife of 58 years, | 19 | | Mercedes; his children, Valerie (husband, Norman, Sr.) Thomas; | 20 | | Stephanie (husband, Perry) Brown; Robert, Jr.; Kimberly | 21 | | (husband, Byron) Henry; and Paula (husband, Samuel II) Jones; |
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| 1 | | he also leaves ten grandchildren to mourn his passing, Larry | 2 | | Jr., Crystal, Marcus, Samuel III, Robert, Candice, Norman, | 3 | | Jasmine, Gabrielle, and Kyle; and two great-grandchildren, | 4 | | Devin and Jaylen; his siblings, Joerean (husband, Walter, | 5 | | deceased) Mills; Samuel (wife, Susie, deceased) Johnson; Joe L. | 6 | | Johnson; and Doris Kennebrew; and many other relatives and | 7 | | special friends; therefore, be it
| 8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 9 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 10 | | his family and friends, the passing of Robert L. Johnson, Sr.; | 11 | | and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 | | presented to the family of Dr. Robert L. Johnson, Sr., as a | 14 | | symbol of our sincere sympathy.
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