SR0435 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0435 LRB104 13753 MST 26492 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Mary Anne Brown of River Forest, who passed away on May 11, 2025 at the age of 80; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Ruth and Dwight Broeman on December 25, 1944 and attended Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida; and

WHEREAS, Upon her graduation, Mary Anne Brown became a novice with the Dominican Sisters in Adrian, Michigan, later leaving the order to pursue her education at Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa and then graduate studies in child psychology at the University of Iowa; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown met her future husband, Max Douglas Brown, in Iowa City, and they were married on July 14, 1973, making their home in Oak Park; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown served several years as director of the South Austin Community Day Care, and in 1976, she accepted the position of executive director of Hephzibah Home in Oak Park, where she dedicated herself to the work of helping children and their families in the area; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown formed countless partnerships in order to strengthen the community, including with local schools to facilitate day care for working mothers and with Oak Park police to create a social service program for day care families in crisis; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown continued her life of service as the Hephzibah Home accepted HIV-positive babies in the foster care program, established a residential program and an adoption program, and was one of the first agencies to facilitate adoption by same sex couples; and

WHEREAS, Thousands of children, families, and working mothers have been benefactors of Mary Anne Browns's loving, inclusive, and non-judgmental approach to families in crisis, with the people in the community referring to her as a secular saint; she retired from the Hephzibah Home in 2017; and

WHEREAS, Mary Anne Brown is survived by her husband, Max Brown, and their son, Cuyler Brown; her three grandsons, CJ, Harrison, and Palmer; her sisters, Ina Broeman and Bonnie Carpenter; and her brothers, Dwight Broeman, Charles Broeman, and Roland Broeman; 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 Mary Anne Brown and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

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