Bill Text: IL HR1558 | 2015-2016 | 99th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of former Illinois State Representative Irvin Ronald Lawfer.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-01-10 - Resolution Adopted [HR1558 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2015-HR1558-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives have learned
with deep sorrow of the death of | ||||||
4 | our friend and former colleague, State
Representative Irvin | ||||||
5 | Ronald Lawfer of Jo Daviess County, who passed away on December | ||||||
6 | 18, 2016; and
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7 | WHEREAS, A native of Illinois, Representative Lawfer was | ||||||
8 | born on May 15, 1934, in Kent; he attended grade school at | ||||||
9 | Wards Grove School and graduated from
Stockton High School in | ||||||
10 | 1951; he
majored in agriculture and journalism at the | ||||||
11 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he worked as a | ||||||
12 | reporter, covering stories for the "Daily Illini"
and the | ||||||
13 | "Champaign News-Gazette"; as a young man with deep ties to | ||||||
14 | agriculture, he
pledged at the FarmHouse Fraternity, and | ||||||
15 | presided over the house in his senior year; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Upon his graduation from the
University of | ||||||
17 | Illinois in 1955, Representative Lawfer married Patricia A. | ||||||
18 | "Pat" Renken, who was his wife partner in life for 61 years; | ||||||
19 | and
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20 | WHEREAS, In 1955, at the height of the Cold
War, | ||||||
21 | Representative Lawfer joined the United States Army; he was | ||||||
22 | commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and
served on the front |
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1 | lines of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ); he brought new | ||||||
2 | Illinois
findings in the reduction of soil erosion to the | ||||||
3 | attention of his superior officers and was
seconded to the | ||||||
4 | Engineering Division of the Eighth Division, working on soil | ||||||
5 | erosion
reduction projects at U.S. installations throughout | ||||||
6 | the peninsula and earning the Army
Commendation Ribbon for his | ||||||
7 | service; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Upon completing his term of enlistment as a First | ||||||
9 | Lieutenant in 1957, Representative
Lawfer returned to | ||||||
10 | northwest Illinois and took up dairy farming in his home | ||||||
11 | township; as a
member of the Midwest Dairymen Cooperative, he | ||||||
12 | was named Outstanding Dairyman of Jo
Daviess County; he served | ||||||
13 | as Director and Vice-President of the Jo Daviess County Farm | ||||||
14 | Bureau,
and was appointed as Chairman of the Jo Daviess County | ||||||
15 | Agricultural Extension Council;
known as a man who was both an | ||||||
16 | operating farmer and an expert in land conservation, he won | ||||||
17 | many recognitions for his expertise, including the 1986 "Master | ||||||
18 | Farmer" Award from "Prairie Farmer" Magazine; he served on the | ||||||
19 | Illinois Agricultural and Stabilization
Committee as an | ||||||
20 | appointee of United States Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz; | ||||||
21 | and
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22 | WHEREAS, As a leading local farmer and community leader, | ||||||
23 | Representative Lawfer was chosen by his
neighbors for public | ||||||
24 | service; he was elected as Wards Grove Township Supervisor from |
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1 | 1974
to 1982 and served on the Jo Daviess County Board from | ||||||
2 | 1982 until 1992; in November
of 1992, he ran to represent the | ||||||
3 | 74th Representative District in the Illinois General Assembly, | ||||||
4 | winning by
a narrow margin of 860 votes; so popular was his | ||||||
5 | first term service that in November of 1994,
when he first ran | ||||||
6 | for re-election, he faced no opposition; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Representative Lawfer served the 74th | ||||||
8 | Representative District, which comprised all of Jo
Daviess and | ||||||
9 | Stephenson Counties, and parts of Carroll, Ogle, and Whiteside | ||||||
10 | Counties; as an
Illinois House member with experience in | ||||||
11 | farming, land conservation, and local government,
he served as | ||||||
12 | minority spokesman on the House Committee on Agriculture & | ||||||
13 | Conservation;
he also served on Counties & Townships, | ||||||
14 | Environment & Energy, and many other
committees; in the 89th | ||||||
15 | General Assembly, he chaired the House Committee on Aging; and
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16 | WHEREAS, When Representative Lawfer retired from the | ||||||
17 | Illinois House of Representatives at the close
of the 92nd | ||||||
18 | General Assembly, the House recognized his service by adopting | ||||||
19 | House
Resolution 1127 in his honor; during his retirement, he | ||||||
20 | planned on concentrating on farming and spending time with his | ||||||
21 | family; and
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22 | WHEREAS, From the end of 2002 until the end of 2016, | ||||||
23 | Representative Lawfer fulfilled
those life plans, handing his |
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1 | farming heritage on to his family; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Representative Lawfer was a lifelong member of the | ||||||
3 | Lutheran Church; he was baptized at St.
John Lutheran Church in | ||||||
4 | Massbach and confirmed at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Kent; he | ||||||
5 | was a member of Christ Lutheran Church in Stockton, where he | ||||||
6 | served as member and
Chairman of the church council; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Representative Lawfer and his wife had four | ||||||
8 | daughters, Kathy,
Karen, Kay, and Kristine, and a son, Ronald | ||||||
9 | L.; they have nine
grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; | ||||||
10 | and
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11 | WHEREAS, The death of Representative Lawfer is deeply felt | ||||||
12 | by his family,
friends, neighbors and all who knew him; he was | ||||||
13 | one of the men of Illinois who leaves an
empty space behind him | ||||||
14 | when he goes; therefore, be it
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15 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
16 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
17 | we, along with his family and friends, mourn the passing of | ||||||
18 | former State Representative Irvin Ronald Lawfer; and be it | ||||||
19 | further
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20 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
21 | presented to Representative Lawfer's
widow, Patricia Lawfer, |
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1 | and their family as an expression of our deepest sympathy and
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2 | respect.
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