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SENATE RESOLUTION


 
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    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to 
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learn of the death of James W. Ashley of Vermont, formerly of 
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Hinsdale and Chicago, who passed away on April 2, 2007; and

 

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    WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was involved with the YMCA as a young 
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attorney and remained active with the organization well into 
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the 1990s; he worked closely with John Root, former president 
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of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago; he was elected chairman of 
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the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, having served on the group's 
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board since 1966; he chaired the board of the YMCA of the USA 
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from 1985 to 1987; in the early 1990s, Mr. Ashley headed a task 
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force to rebuild the Jerusalem YMCA, which is owned and 
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operated by the YMCA of the USA and has a staff equally divided 
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among Christians, Jews, and Muslims; after the completion of 
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the Jerusalem project, Mr. Ashley was involved with a project 
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next to the facility's building;

and

 
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    WHEREAS, Mr. Ashley was a partner at McDermott, Will, and 
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Emery, where he chaired the estate planning department;

Mr. 
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Ashley grew up in La Grange and graduated from Lyons Township 
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High School; he began taking classes at Fordham University in 
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New York;  after the attack on Pearl Harbor he enlisted in the 
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U.S. Army Air Force, where he was a navigator in 40 missions 
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over Europe; and

 
 


 






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    WHEREAS, Returning home from World War II, Mr. Ashley 
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successfully petitioned officials at Northwestern University's 
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law school to be admitted without an undergraduate degree; 
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after his graduation from law school, he worked in the trust 
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department at Continental Bank before joining McDermott, Will, 
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and Emery; he married the former Courtney Coolidge in 1947; 
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they divorced in the mid-1970s, and he married Joan Allbright 
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Crawford in 1975;

and
 
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    WHEREAS, In addition to staying busy with the YMCA in 
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retirement, Mr. Ashley did a stint as treasurer for Vermont's 
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state Democratic party and served on several local boards; and

 
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    WHEREAS, Mr. James Ashley is survived by his wife, Joan; 
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his sons, James Jr., Christopher, Cooper, and John; his 
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daughter, Courtney; his sister, Elizabeth Watson; and 13 
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grandchildren; therefore, be it

 
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    RESOLVED, BY THE  SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL 
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ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with 
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his family and friends, the passing of James W. Ashley; and be 
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it further

 
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    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be 
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presented to the family of James W. Ashley as a symbol of our 
 


 






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sympathy.