Bill Text: IL SR0398 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Willie Thomas Summerville of Champaign.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-04-06 - Resolution Adopted [SR0398 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-SR0398-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | ||||||
3 | learn of the death of Willie Thomas Summerville of Champaign, | ||||||
4 | who passed away on March 7, 2017; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville was born in Sunshine Arkansas | ||||||
6 | to Moses and Lenora on August 7, 1944; he started taking music | ||||||
7 | lessons when he was 12 to 13 years of age;
he was a drum major | ||||||
8 | at T.W. Daniels High School and played the tuba in the band; he | ||||||
9 | was on the student council and sang in the school choir; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville graduated from the University | ||||||
11 | of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science in | ||||||
12 | Music Education; he earned his Masters of Science in Music | ||||||
13 | Education from the University of Illinois in 1967; he furthered | ||||||
14 | his studies at the University of Utah, the Ohio State | ||||||
15 | University, Youngstown State University, East Stroudburg State | ||||||
16 | University, Westminster Choir College, the University of | ||||||
17 | Michigan, Michigan State University, and Jackson State | ||||||
18 | University; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville worked at the Champaign Public
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20 | Schools until 1970, when he became the Choral Music Director of | ||||||
21 | the Middle School and the Eighth Grade Chorus in the Urbana | ||||||
22 | Unified Schools; he was the Director of the High School Concert |
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1 | Choir and took the choir to Rome to sing at St.
Peter's | ||||||
2 | Basilica at the Vatican in 1999; he took the Urbana High School | ||||||
3 | choir to New York City where they sang at the Riverside Church | ||||||
4 | and at Carnegie Hall; he also worked in the African American | ||||||
5 | Studies Department at the University of Illinois, where he was | ||||||
6 | the Campus
and Community Affairs Specialist;
and
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7 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville belonged to many professional | ||||||
8 | associations and service organizations, including the National | ||||||
9 | Education Association, the Illinois Education Association, the | ||||||
10 | Urbana Education Association, the Urbana Rotary, the | ||||||
11 | University of Illinois Alumni Band, the Phi Beta Sigma | ||||||
12 | Fraternity, the Phi Delta Kappa, the Alpha Kappa Mu National | ||||||
13 | Honor Society, the University of Illinois Alumni Association | ||||||
14 | (Life Member), the American Choral Directors Association, the | ||||||
15 | Illinois Music Educators Association, the Music Educators | ||||||
16 | National Conference, and the Illinois Music Adjudicators | ||||||
17 | Association; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville was a founding member of Canaan | ||||||
19 | Missionary Baptist Church; he was a charter member of the | ||||||
20 | Deacon Board and Treasurer of the Canaan Development Foundation | ||||||
21 | that supports the Canaan Academy; he faithfully served with the | ||||||
22 | Soul Winning Action Team (SWAT Team) where he was a charter | ||||||
23 | member; he was the director of the St. Luke's choir for over 50 | ||||||
24 | years; he also conducted music workshops and clinics all over |
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1 | the world which were attended by thousands of people; he won | ||||||
2 | numerous awards for his music and for his teaching; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville had many personal editorial | ||||||
4 | and musical publications such as, "Choral Clarification," | ||||||
5 | "Jesus, How I love You," "Keeping the Dream Alive," "Dear Old | ||||||
6 | Urbana," and "The Chocolate Flavored Birthday Song"; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville was married to the former | ||||||
8 | Valerian Alexander for 47 years; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville was preceded in death by his | ||||||
10 | sisters Ruby Lee Summerville Dixon, Sarah Jean Patton Brown, | ||||||
11 | and Annie Pearl Summerville; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Willie Summerville is survived by his sister, | ||||||
13 | Bertha Sue Summerville; his children, Derrick, Shandra, and | ||||||
14 | William (Danielle Moses); his grandchildren, Darius (Jazmine), | ||||||
15 | Adrian, Makeda, Jaxon, and Ezekiel; his great-granddaughter, | ||||||
16 | Amiyah; his unborn great-grandson, Sebastian; and many nieces, | ||||||
17 | nephews, and godchildren; therefore, be it
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18 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
19 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of | ||||||
20 | Willie Thomas Summerville, and extend our sincere condolences | ||||||
21 | to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be |
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1 | it further
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2 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
3 | presented to the family of Willie Summerville as an expression | ||||||
4 | of our deepest sympathy.
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