SR0594 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0594 LRB101 13375 MST 62219 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of Bishop Harold Breon Dawson Jr. of Peoria, who passed away on July 14, 2019; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson was born to Bishop Harold Sr. and Mattie Pearl Dawson on August 5, 1970; he married Lori Tawana Guyton on May 30, 1997; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson earned a Bachelor of Administration in Marketing from Jackson State University; he studied at Lincoln Christian Seminary and the Summer Leadership Institute at Harvard Divinity School; he graduated from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University with a Master in Divinity; he was accepted as a candidate for his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson was licensed and ordained as a minister by his father in 2001; he was installed as pastor of New Hope International Ministries, where he served as senior pastor for 11 years; in July 2012, he organized and founded New Life Christian Church, where he served as senior pastor; he received Episcopal Consecration as a bishop on August 26, 2016; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson ministered across the country and in South Africa and the Caribbean; he was a member of the U.S. delegation to Trinidad and Tobago; along with a group of four Peoria churches, he continued missionary support and international fellowship in Trinidad and assisted in sending missionaries to Colombia; and

WHEREAS, In 2010, Bishop Dawson was appointed president of the Peoria Christian Leadership Council; he also served as a commissioner on the board of the Wayne A. Downing Metropolitan Airport Authority; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson was a devoted husband and loving father and expressed pride and joy over each of his children; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson was a hero, a champion, a warrior, a builder, a visionary, a scholar, and a friend; he was unquestionably one of a kind; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson was preceded in death by his mother, Evangelist Mattie Pearl Dawson; his father-in-law and mentor, Pastor A.J. Guyton; and his grandmothers, Mother Maybelle Mitchell and Leila Mae Dawson; and

WHEREAS, Bishop Dawson is survived by his wife of 22 years, Lori; his children, Harold III, Haven, and Harrington; his father, Bishop Harold Dawson Sr. (Valerie); his sisters, Sheirie Artese Dawson and Shannon Pleishette Dawson-Galloway (Stacy); his brother, Pastor Ahmad Jamal Dawson (Jewel); his beloved mother-in-law, Mother Lena M. Guyton; numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins; and his New Life Christian Church family; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Bishop Harold Breon Dawson Jr. 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 Bishop Dawson as an expression of our deepest sympathy.