SR0132 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0132 LRB096 11918 KXB 23171 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to learn of the death of longtime radio broadcaster and commentator Paul Harvey, whose show reached over 24 million listeners around the world, and who passed away on February 28, 2009; and

WHEREAS, Paul Harvey Aurandt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 4, 1918; his mother raised him and his sister after the tragic death of his father, a police officer killed in the line of duty when his son was only three; Paul Harvey dropped his last name for professional reasons in the 1940s; and

WHEREAS, He developed an early love for radio and would pick up stations on a homemade cigar-box crystal set; he began his career as an unpaid station gofer at KVOO radio in Tulsa in 1933; he attended Tulsa University while working at KVOO; and

WHEREAS, In 1939 he moved to KXOK radio in St. Louis, Missouri, where he met his future wife, Lynne; he proposed to her on their first date and they married in June of 1940; he would call her by his pet name for her, "Angel", the rest of their lives; and

WHEREAS, He traveled to Hawaii to broadcast for the United States Navy in 1940 and was on a ship two days out of Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941; upon his return to the States he was named director of news and information for the Office of War Information for Michigan and Indiana; he enlisted in the United States Air Force and moved to Chicago after receiving a medical discharge in 1944; there he joined WENR-ABC news; and

WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was known for his radio show, The Rest of the Story, where he would tell stories of human interest, and as he would describe them, "Would Aunt Betty care about this"?; he is credited with coining the words "guesstimate," "trendency," "Reaganomics," and "snoopervision"; in the year 2000 he signed a reported $100 million contract that would keep him broadcasting for the next ten years; and

WHEREAS, He was heard in Chicago on WGN-AM radio and across the globe on American Forces Radio; he wrote a syndicated news column and was the author of three books, Remember These Things, Autumn of Liberty, and The Rest of the Story; he and his wife were inductees into the Radio Hall of Fame, and in 2005 he was one of fourteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; and

WHEREAS, Paul Harvey was preceded in death by his wife, Lynne "Angel" Harvey; he is survived by his son, Paul Harvey Jr.; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn, along with his friends, family, and listeners around the world, the passing of Paul Harvey; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Paul Harvey Jr. as a symbol of our sincere sympathy at the passing of his father, Paul Harvey.