Bill Text: IL SR0813 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Victor Hicken of Iowa City, Iowa.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2010-05-07 - Resolution Adopted [SR0813 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2009-SR0813-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 Victor Hicken of Iowa City, Iowa, who | ||||||
4 | passed away on April 8, 2010; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken was born on September 28, 1921, in | ||||||
6 | Witt; he was the son of Thomas Hicken and Ann Atherton Hicken; | ||||||
7 | he met Mary O'Connell while attending the United States Naval | ||||||
8 | Officers Candidate School at Columbia University in New York | ||||||
9 | City; the couple was married on December 28, 1943; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken attended public schools in | ||||||
11 | Gillespie and earned his Bachelor of Education degree from | ||||||
12 | Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; after his stint in | ||||||
13 | the military, he attended the University of Illinois at | ||||||
14 | Urbana-Champaign, where he earned his Master of Arts degree and | ||||||
15 | Ph.D. in American History; and
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16 | WHEREAS, During World War II, Victor Hicken was the officer | ||||||
17 | in charge of one of the very first landing craft to hit the | ||||||
18 | beach at Dog Green, the naval landing site located at the | ||||||
19 | heavily fortified Vierville, France sector of Omaha Beach on | ||||||
20 | D-Day, June 6, 1944; his LCT(A) craft was specially designed to | ||||||
21 | carry explosive elements to destroy beach obstacles before the | ||||||
22 | arrival of the first United States and British infantry units; |
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1 | the Allied landing at this spot was portrayed in the movie | ||||||
2 | "Saving Private Ryan"; he was later assigned to the Pacific | ||||||
3 | theatre, where his ship endured two typhoons and he witnessed | ||||||
4 | the last kamikaze attack at Okinawa; his experiences in World | ||||||
5 | War II were chronicled in the book "Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, | ||||||
6 | 1944" by Joseph Balkoski; and
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7 | WHEREAS, In his 34-year tenure as professor of history at | ||||||
8 | Western Illinois University in Macomb, Victor Hicken served on | ||||||
9 | every major academic and administrative committee; during his | ||||||
10 | several terms on the Salary Committee, WIU increased faculty | ||||||
11 | salaries to match those of peer institutions; during his terms | ||||||
12 | on the Faculty Senate, faculty powers were enhanced; he was | ||||||
13 | also instrumental in establishing the university archives and | ||||||
14 | went on to document the history of the school in "The Purple | ||||||
15 | and the Gold: The Story of Western Illinois University"; he | ||||||
16 | served as chair of the History Department from 1967 to 1969 and | ||||||
17 | was voted Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois | ||||||
18 | Association of Teachers of English in 1976; during his last 5 | ||||||
19 | years at WIU, he held the position of Distinguished University | ||||||
20 | Professor, the first and only WIU professor to be awarded this | ||||||
21 | honor by a faculty committee; he also taught courses at Knox | ||||||
22 | College in Galesburg and Black Hawk College in Moline; and
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23 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken served on several State committees, | ||||||
24 | including those which helped to define the role of junior |
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1 | colleges in the state and developed and promoted the teaching | ||||||
2 | of African-American history; he served on the State Historic | ||||||
3 | Sites Committee and, in 1976, was elected the president of the | ||||||
4 | Illinois State Historical Society; he was appointed guest | ||||||
5 | lecturer at the University of Salzburg in Austria; he also | ||||||
6 | conducted research for the National Education Association and | ||||||
7 | for the American Academy for the Advancement of Science; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken is often listed among the most noted | ||||||
9 | academic authors in the State of Illinois; his first major | ||||||
10 | work, "Illinois in the Civil War", is considered a classic in | ||||||
11 | the field, presenting one of the first and best descriptions of | ||||||
12 | the Civil War in the West; "Illinois in the Civil War" was the | ||||||
13 | winner of the Award of Merit by the American Association for | ||||||
14 | State and Local History and has been in print for over 40 | ||||||
15 | years; he was among the first to write about the critical role | ||||||
16 | of the African-American soldier in the Civil War; he also wrote | ||||||
17 | contributing pieces to the Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine and | ||||||
18 | numerous articles in scholarly journals on such subjects as | ||||||
19 | African-American history, political trends, and organized | ||||||
20 | labor issues; and
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21 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken enjoyed art, painting, poetry, and | ||||||
22 | music; he was a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan and | ||||||
23 | enjoyed playing baseball in the university faculty and staff | ||||||
24 | leagues; he was an avid runner and kept a regular routine of |
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1 | running 10 miles a day; he and his wife were members of St. | ||||||
2 | George's Episcopal Church in Macomb congregation for over 50 | ||||||
3 | years; after his retirement, he and his wife spent most of | ||||||
4 | their time at their cabin in northern Minnesota, where he | ||||||
5 | enjoyed fishing and birding; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Victor Hicken is survived by his wife of 66 years, | ||||||
7 | Mary; his son, Jeffrey Price Hicken and his daughter-in-law, | ||||||
8 | Mary Sarah Hicken; his granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann Hicken, his | ||||||
9 | son-in-law, Daniel Bellrichard, and his great-granddaughter, | ||||||
10 | Lulu Jeanette Bellrichard; his granddaughter, Molly Catherine | ||||||
11 | Hicken; his grandson, Andrew Victor Hicken and his | ||||||
12 | daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Anne Mackey; his son, Brian Thomas | ||||||
13 | O'Connell, his daughter-in-law, Lesley O'Connell, and his | ||||||
14 | grandchildren, Evan O'Connell and Rachel O'Connell; his | ||||||
15 | daughter, Elizabeth Ann Christiansen, and his son-in-law, Dana | ||||||
16 | Eric Christiansen; and his son, Daniel Joseph Hicken, and his | ||||||
17 | daughter-in-law, Kimberly Kay Hicken; therefore, be it
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18 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL | ||||||
19 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with | ||||||
20 | his family and friends, the passing of Victor Hicken; and be it | ||||||
21 | further
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22 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
23 | presented to the family of Victor Hicken as an expression of |
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1 | our sympathy.
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