SR0425 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0425 LRB104 15158 LAW 28302 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Captain James A. "Jim" Lovell Jr., USN (Ret.), of Lake Forest, who passed away on August 7, 2025; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell was born to James Lovell Sr. and Blanche (Masek) Lovell in Cleveland, Ohio on March 25, 1928; following his father's passing, he was raised by his mother in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he attended Juneau High School; during his childhood, he participated in Boy Scouts and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison through the Holloway Plan, a naval recruitment scholarship to attract new officers and pilots post-World War II; during the program's second year, he was accepted into the United States Naval Academy, where he earned an aeronautical engineering degree in 1952; he married Marilyn Gerlach at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis, Maryland on June 6, 1952; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell began his naval career in flight training before he joined Composite Squadron 3 at Moffett Field, California, where he was assigned to Team Jig, an all-night, all-weather jet fighter squadron deployed on the USS Shangri-La; following his tour of duty, he entered Class 20 of the Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland in 1958; he graduated first in his class and became project manager for the Navy's new fighter jet, the F4H Phantom; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell was selected to join NASA as part of a group of astronauts for the Gemini and Apollo programs on September 17, 1962; he made four space flights during his almost 11-year career with NASA, which included Gemini 7 in 1965, a two-week orbital mission to test human endurance in space and rendezvous with another spacecraft, Gemini 12 in 1966, to prove the feasibility of working outside a spacecraft, Apollo 8 in 1968, man's first flight to the moon, and Apollo 13 in 1970, NASA's third lunar landing mission that was aborted due to an oxygen tank explosion in route to the moon; after his final space flight, he graduated from Harvard University's Advanced Management Program in 1971 and served eight years as the president's consultant on Physical Fitness & Sports; he retired from NASA and as a naval captain on March 1, 1973; over the course of his career, he accumulated almost 8,000 flight hours, including 713 hours in space, the most experienced astronaut at the time; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell's extraordinary career continued after NASA, and he held numerous executive positions, served on several boards, and made numerous motivational and space-related speeches around the world; he co-authored the book, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, served as a consultant on the making of Ron Howard's movie, Apollo 13, in which he was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks, was chairman for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, owned the Chicago-area consulting firm Lovell Communications, and opened Lovell's of Lake Forest, a restaurant he started with his son, Jay; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell received numerous accolades, including the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Navy's Distinguished Service Medal, two Navy Distinguished Flying Crosses, NASA's Distinguished and Exceptional Service Medals, and an Emmy Award for Apollo 8's broadcast from the moon on Christmas Eve in 1968; he was named a Distinguished Eagle Scout and a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Naval Academy; further, he was the namesake of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, and he named a mountain on the moon after his wife, Mount Marilyn, which was officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU); and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell, in his spare time, enjoyed flying one of his many private airplanes, traveling with Marilyn around the world or to their lake house in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, and spending time with his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell was preceded in death by his wife of 71 years, Marilyn Lillie Lovell, and his parents; and

WHEREAS, Capt. Lovell is survived by his children, Barbara (Ken) Harrison, James "Jay" (Darice) Lovell III, Susan Lovell, Jeffrey (Annie) Lovell; 11 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Captain James A. "Jim" Lovell Jr., USN (Ret.) and extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Capt. Lovell as an expression of our deepest sympathy.