Full Text of SR0853 96th General Assembly
SR0853 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| SENATE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 |
| learn of the death of Gilbert Ellman "Mr. Music" of Naperville, | 4 |
| who passed away on April 30, 2010; and
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| WHEREAS, Mr. Ellman played alto and tenor sax, flute, and | 6 |
| clarinet in Chicago ballrooms such as the Trianon on the South | 7 |
| Side and the Melody Mill in North Riverside; he played in | 8 |
| orchestras backing performers including Patti Page, Milton | 9 |
| Berle, Phil Silvers, and future President Ronald Reagan; he | 10 |
| opened Ellman's Music Store at 218 S. Wabash in 1958, moved it | 11 |
| to Van Buren Street and then, in 1963, to Main Street in | 12 |
| Naperville, where Ellman's Music Center became a fixture; and
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| WHEREAS, He was born to a German father and an Austrian | 14 |
| mother in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood in 1925; Mr. Ellman | 15 |
| fell in love with music when his parents scraped together the | 16 |
| money to buy him a horn;
Mr. Ellman became a concert master at | 17 |
| Tilden High School, graduating in 1943 and starting his first | 18 |
| business at age 18: a Berwyn shop that serviced radios and | 19 |
| other electronic equipment; and
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| WHEREAS, During World War II, he was a member of the Coast | 21 |
| Guard Band; then, he apprenticed as a repairman with Leo Cooper | 22 |
| in Chicago and worked as a repair technician for Tommy Dorsey |
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| and Benny Goodman when they brought their big bands to Chicago; | 2 |
| he also managed the Band Instrument Department for Carl Fischer | 3 |
| Music in Chicago; and
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| WHEREAS, He started the Aristocraft Bongo Factory, with | 5 |
| business partner Jim Tadra, and sold thousands of bongos | 6 |
| internationally; he invented and patented musical accessories, | 7 |
| as well as Volksboat lightweight speed boats and Hiker walking | 8 |
| sticks; and | 9 |
| WHEREAS, Mr. Ellman taught musical instrument repair at | 10 |
| DePaul University, what was then called Illinois State College | 11 |
| and Vandercook University; he met his wife on a trip he | 12 |
| arranged for DePaul music students in 1956; she was a student | 13 |
| who liked to play the baritone horn and the French horn; they | 14 |
| married in 1959 and they kept making music together, playing in | 15 |
| the Naperville Municipal Band; and | 16 |
| WHEREAS, He faithfully attended his son Peter's Tuesday | 17 |
| night performances at Jilly's in Naperville and kept up his | 18 |
| membership of the Chicago Musicians Union Local No. 10208 for | 19 |
| more than 60 years;
Mr. Ellman served as vice president of the | 20 |
| Naperville Chamber of Commerce for three terms, as well as | 21 |
| co-chairman of the town's Last Fling celebration; and
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| WHEREAS, Gilbert Ellman is survived by his wife, Joan; his |
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| children, Susan, Michael, and Peter; and by his eight | 2 |
| grandchildren; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | 4 |
| ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | 5 |
| his family and friends, the passing of Gilbert Ellman; and be | 6 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 8 |
| presented to the family of Gilbert Ellman as a symbol of our | 9 |
| sincere sympathy.
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