HR0462 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0462 LRB095 12251 GRL 36721 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Niles Township Supervisor Thomas Joseph McElligott on his retirement; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Joseph McElligott was born on September 11, 1925 on the west side of Chicago; he is the fourth of five children; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Joseph McElligott attended Our Lady of the Angels grammar school and Quigley High School; he joined the Navy in 1943 during World War II; he was sent to Carson Newman College in Tennessee, Midshipman's School at Columbia University in New York, and then to Oklahoma to learn Japanese; he was commissioned in July 1945 and served in the Pacific Theater at a naval base on Okinawa until his discharge in August 1946; he returned to Chicago and graduated from Loyola University in 1948 and then entered law school at Georgetown University; he graduated from Georgetown in the spring of 1951 and was admitted to the Illinois bar in November of that year; he practiced law with the firm of McMahon and Plunkett from 1951 until he went into solo practice in 1959; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Joseph McElligott met Kathryn Hester in 1951, shortly after he graduated from Georgetown and returned to Chicago; after a whirlwind courtship of three years, Tom and Kay married on August 14, 1954, in St. Giles Church in Oak Park; they had seven bright, beautiful, fun-loving children: Terence, Mary Jo, Eileen, Michael, Daniel, William, and Thomas Sean; they now have sixteen grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Joseph McElligott and his family moved from Chicago to Skokie in 1960, where they lived in the Fairview area for twelve years; they moved into a bigger house in the Lorel Park area in 1972; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Joseph McElligott was interested in local government from his first days in Skokie; he joined the South Fairview Home Owners Association and became involved in the hot issues at that time, which were zoning and school board elections; soon after, Tom was appointed to the office of the Corporation Counsel of Skokie, where he remained for four years; his areas of expertise were the Plan Commission and Zoning Board; he was elected a Trustee of Skokie in 1969, where he remained for two terms; in 1977 he was elected a Trustee on the Niles Township Board; he was appointed Supervisor in 1981; he has remained the Supervisor of the Township until the present, having been re-elected many times; and

WHEREAS, As Niles Township Supervisor, Thomas Joseph McElligott has been responsible for many important accomplishments; he was a catalyst for the founding of the Niles Township Community Child Care Center; he helped set up a continuing education Adult Computer Education program; he was responsible for enlarging the Niles Township Food Pantry, which now serves over 1,500 individuals per month; and he was instrumental in the modernization of the Township building; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Thomas Joseph McElligott on his retirement, thank him for his many years of public service, and wish him continued success and happiness in the future; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Thomas Joseph McElligott as a symbol of our esteem and respect.